Using Bike Lanes Safely in Florida

What Lane Position the Law Requires

Fla. Stat. § 316.2065(5)(a) requires a person operating a bicycle on a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic to ride in the bicycle lane or, if there is no bicycle lane, “as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway.”

Two things follow immediately. The duty only applies when you are traveling slower than traffic — an e-bike keeping pace with congested urban traffic is not engaged by it at all. And the standard is practicable, not possible. The subsection carries exceptions for overtaking, for preparing to turn, and for avoiding hazards, and the word “practicable” is doing work on top of them.

§ 316.2065(5)(b) adds a rule most riders have never heard: on a one-way highway with two or more marked traffic lanes, a rider may ride as near the left-hand curb or edge as practicable. On a one-way street, the left is available to you.

Fla. Stat. § 316.20655(7) separately names bicycle lanes as somewhere an electric bicycle operator may ride, alongside streets, highways, roadways, shoulders, and multiuse paths.

The Door Zone Problem

In a great many Florida towns the painted bicycle lane runs directly through the swing of the doors of the parking bay beside it. A rider using the lane as § 316.2065(5)(a) directs is riding in the place where doors open.

Fla. Stat. § 316.2005 puts the duty squarely on the person opening the door: “No person shall open any door on a motor vehicle unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic.” Not the driver — any person. And the same section prohibits leaving a door open into moving traffic longer than loading requires.

Practically, the answer is to ride outside the door zone, and the law supports it. “Practicable” in § 316.2065(5)(a) is precisely the word that permits a rider to move left of a hazard, and a row of occupied parked cars is a hazard. Where the painted lane itself sits inside the door zone, riding the outer edge of it — or leaving it — is a defensible judgment rather than a violation.

If a door does catch you, see dooring accidents. And if the lane’s own design put you there, the road authority may belong in the case, subject to the caps and presentment deadline in Fla. Stat. § 768.28.

Legally Reviewed By

David I. Shiner, Esq.

Founder, Shiner Law Group · AV Preeminent® rated · Florida Bar member since 2002

David I. Shiner founded Shiner Law Group and has been a member of The Florida Bar since 2002. He is a graduate of Nova Southeastern University’s law school and holds an AV Preeminent® rating from Martindale-Hubbell. The firm represents injured people across Florida from offices in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Pierce, Orlando, Wellington, and Belle Glade, and handles these cases on a contingency basis with free consultations and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.

Content on this page legally reviewed by David I. Shiner, Esq. · Fla. Bar No. 572721 About this site →

Junctions, Where Bike Lanes Do the Most Harm

A bicycle lane works well between junctions and badly at them, because it places a straight-through rider to the right of drivers who are about to turn right across them.

Florida has a specific rule for this. Fla. Stat. § 316.151(1)(a)2. permits a driver “when overtaking and passing a bicycle proceeding in the same direction” to make a right turn “only if the bicycle is at least 20 feet from the intersection, and is of such a distance that the driver of a vehicle may safely turn,” after signaling. And § 316.151(1)(a) requires the driver to make both the approach and the turn “as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway” — which means entering the bicycle lane before turning, not turning across it.

• Approaching a junction, move out of the driver’s blind spot. Being level with a vehicle’s rear wheel as it reaches a junction is the worst place to be.
• Watch the front wheel of vehicles beside and ahead of you, not the indicator. Wheels turn before signals come on, and often instead of them.
• Where the lane ends, merge early rather than at the pinch point.
• Take the lane where the geometry requires it. Section 316.2065(5)(a) applies to a rider traveling slower than traffic and carries exceptions for turning and for hazards.
• Be aware of § 316.083(4) — the 3-foot requirement does not apply where bicycles occupy separated bicycle lanes.

See right-hook collisions for how these are proved.

Where the Lane Becomes a Path or a Sidewalk

Bicycle lanes frequently transition into shared-use paths or sidewalk areas, and the rules change at that point.

On a sidewalk or in a crosswalk, Fla. Stat. § 316.2065(9) gives a rider “all the rights and duties applicable to a pedestrian.” That is a genuine change of legal character — and it comes with § 316.2065(10), which addresses yielding to pedestrians on a sidewalk.

Fla. Stat. § 316.1995(1) prohibits driving a vehicle “other than by human power” on a sidewalk or bicycle path but opens with an express exception for s. 316.20655 — so e-bikes are carved out by the text of the prohibition itself. What varies is local: § 316.20655(1) preserves the power of a municipality, county, or state agency to regulate operation on sidewalks and to restrict or prohibit e-bikes on paths, trails, beaches, and dunes.

So the honest answer where a lane becomes a path is: state law generally permits it, your municipal code may not, and a rider on a shared path owes duties to pedestrians that they do not owe to drivers. See where e-bikes may be ridden.

Frequently Asked Questions