Looking for 3FeetPlease Stickers and Shirts?

The following local Lee County bicycle shops have 3feetplease stickers available for free. Now you can help spread the word!

AJ Barnes Bicycle Emporium
http://www.ajbarnesbicycles.com/
15248 S Tamiami Trl # 150
Fort Myers, FL 33908
(239) 437-0373

Bike Route
http://thebikeroute.com/
8595 College Pkwy #200
Fort Myers, FL 33919
(239) 481-3376

Fort Myers Schwinn Cyclery
http://www.schwinncyclery.com/
3630 Cleveland Ave
Fort Myers, FL 33901
(239) 939-2899

Paradise Bicycles
http://paradisebicycles.net/
4391 Colonial Blvd
Fort Myers, FL 33996
(239) 939-0511

Paradise Bicycles
http://paradisebicycles.net/
1712 Del Prado Blvd S
Cape Coral, FL 33990
(239) 772-2453

Trek Bicycle Store of Estero
http://trekbikesflorida.com/
8001 Plaza del Lago Dr
Estero, FL 33928
(239) 390-9909‎

While visiting these shops over the weekend to drop off stickers, they all said they were looking into stocking the 3feetplease.com jerseys. We will definitely let you know when when this happens! Be sure you have subscribed to receive our articles by email so you will know...

3FeetPlease Jersey Helps Keep BPAC Member Seen

On September 15, 2011 several BPAC members met with Clay Simmons and Michael Tisch of the Lee County DOT to conducted an on-site study of bicyclist issues at the new Summerlin and College overpass and intersection. Each BPAC member met with Clay and Mike independently. The BPAC members involved included Peter Ahlgren, Joe Beck, Steve Rogers, Al Stewart, Keith Kibbey and Bert Hamilton.

This meeting was really appreciated by all and truly showed Lee County DOT's commitment to Complete Streets and improving facilities for all. It was also was a great opportunity to use my 3feetplease jersey as I navigated through some very busy traffic.

The First Annual Galloway Captive Triathlon - An Unbelievable Success!

The first annual Galloway Captiva Triathlon is over but what a success it was! How could it have been anything but a great success? Located on a perfect September morning in Southwest Florida at the beautiful South Seas Plantation Resort, hundreds of well trained triathletes had the chance to show off just what they could do. And, they did just that! Everyone that made this event possible and such a success needs to be congratulated.

Our congratulations to all the athletes on a job well done! To see the results visit the official Galloway Captiva Tri web site by clicking here...

This event also turned out to be a fantastic success for Harvey Software's first effort to educate both bicyclist and motorist a like. At this event, we were able to give out more than 500 Southwest Florida triathletes 3feetplease.com t-shirts so they can help us spread the word about safe bicycling while they train and bicycle in the our area. On top of all this, two lucky athletes also received 3feetplease.com jerseys. This just could not be more successful for everyone involved.

Harvey Software would like to give a special thanks to Angie Ferguson, Ken Gooderham, and Kate Gooderham for allowing us to be involved!

Photography for this event was furnished by James Hamilton. To see more photos from the Galloway Captiva Triathlon click here...

Getting Ready for the Galloway Captiva Tri

Friday and Saturday we were all busy at work getting all the 3feetplease.com t-shirts and other things ready for the upcoming Galloway Captiva Triathlon at South Seas Island Resort. It is exiting to know that Harvey Software could really make a difference just by giving out these t-shirts. It is hard to believe that this project could educate cyclists and motorists about a little known, but very important law in Florida so easily.

The Galloway Captiva Tri event for adults begins at 7:00 a.m. on Captiva Island at the beautiful South Seas Island Resort. If you plan to attend and you did not stay in the area, you need to be there early as the road leading to South Seas will be closed at 6:45 a.m. through the end of the event.

Below is the unofficial event schedule for Sunday as we understand it. For exact schedule and more about this even visit http://www.captivatri.com/

Adult Event Time Schedule - Sunday, September 18, 2011

5:30 a.m. - Athlete check-in opens. Transition area opens.

6:45 a.m. - Transition closes.

6:50 a.m. - Athlete briefing at Beach Swim Start.

7:00 a.m. - Start swim.

8:15 a.m. - Bike course closes.

9:30 a.m. - Awards ceremony and raffle on East Lawn.

10:00 a.m. - Run course closes.

10:30 a.m. - Transition area closes.

T-Shirts for Upcoming Galloway Captiva Tri Weekend

Because of all the positive results that have been seen when using the 3feetplease shirts, Harvey Software publicly announced today that it is donating 3feetplease t-shirts for the 500+ athletes participating in the up coming adult event of the Galloway Captiva Tri Weekend. Harvey Software is also donating two 3feetplease bicycle jerseys for raffling at the same event.

The Galloway Captiva Tri Weekend is the prefect opportunity to spread information about Florida's 3 Foot Law because the athletes in this event put on thousands of bicycling miles on Florida roads every month.


If you would like your own 3feetplease t-shirt or jersey, you can visit http://www.3feetplease.com/ or they can also be found at many of the local bicycle shops listed at this web site.

Next time around we will share some of the pictures from this event and discuss additional developments with this project and others to come.

Lee County Sheriff Shows His Support of the 3 Feet Please Project

After my success with the 3feetplease shirts, I turned to trying to get stickers put on Lee County vehicles to continue to spread the word about this little known Florida law. For this I turned to an individual that had helped me get "Share the Road" signs in my area, Sheriff Mike Scott. I set up a meeting with them after talking to his some of his staff.

During my meeting with Sheriff Scott we discussed the project and by the end of our meeting he agreed to discuss this with his staff. And a few days later, I learned that he agreed to try putting stickers on 100 of his marked patrol vehicles.

I was very exited about this decision. I felt that this action would not only educate motorists and bicyclists but it also made sure the deputies of our county were also aware of this law. In addition to adding the stickers, Sheriff Scott also saw that an article about bicycling was added to their internal newsletter.

It is Sheriff Mike Scott's policy to lead by example and in this case it is very clear. It also shows his value as a leader of our community. His actions have now opened the door to the possibility of getting stickers on many more Lee County vehicles in the near future. The Lee County schools and the County Manager are now considering putting stickers on other vehicles, in part, from the actions of Sheriff Mike Scott.

With the initial successes of educating the public with the 3feetplease shirts and stickers, be sure to check our next article when I tell readers what Harvey Software has decided to do to help get the 3 feet please message out to more motorists and cyclists.

The Beginning of 3 Feet Please Story in Lee County Florida

Before laws can be followed by all, they have to be known by all…Silly statement, right? Not when it comes to a few basic laws in the state of Florida for bicyclist. Let me give some examples. When you bicycle on a Florida road one should travel in the same direction of the traffic and follow all the traffic control devices just like motorist. These are laws that bicyclists break all the time. How many times have you seen someone riding a bicycle in a different direction as the traffic or ignoring a stop sign? I call them statistics but the truth is that they are more likely ignorant of our laws. And, these are basic laws that all bicyclists need to know to survive.

But for this article, I am going to discuss another law that everyone, motorists and bicyclists, using our roads needs to know and not so obvious that its needs to be followed by motorists and bicyclists alike. The law I am referring to is the 3 foot law and from what I can tell it is unknown by most bicyclists and motorist. It is a law that can differ from state to state, so many of our drivers and cyclists that have just moved to Florida or are just visiting the area are totally unaware. It is not the only one like this, but it is an important one when it comes to bicycle safety. This law reads as follows:

FS 316.083 - Overtaking and Passing a Vehicle

The following rules shall govern the overtaking and passing of vehicles proceeding in the same direction, subject to those limitations, exceptions, and special rules hereinafter stated:

(1) The driver of a vehicle overtaking another vehicle proceeding in the same direction shall pass to the left thereof at a safe distance, and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken vehicle. The driver of a vehicle overtaking a bicycle or other non-motorized vehicle must pass the bicycle or other non-motorized vehicle at a safe distance of not less than 3 feet between the vehicle and the bicycle or other non-motorized vehicle.

This is a law that is more challenging than the others as both bicyclists and motorists, including those that do not bike, need to know. For this reason this law was recently discussed at the June Lee County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) meeting when one of the members made the motion to recommend the BOCC have "3 Feet Please - It's the Law" stickers put on all Lee County public vehicles to better educate the public about this law. At that time the motion was tabled for further discussion and discovery. But after that meeting I decided to do some investigation on my own since the idea of these stickers was new to me and sounded very interesting.

My investigation was pretty easy because when I put in “3 Feet Please” for keyword in Goggle I immediately found http://www.3feetplease.com a web site created by Joe Mizereck for the purpose of promoting and educating the public about the 3 foot laws. At this web site I discovered you could not only get stickers there, but you could also purchase bicycle jerseys and t-shirts too. So I purchase one of each and tried them to see if it made any difference when used.

To my surprise both the t-shirt and the jersey both made a huge difference. Motorist approaching me from behind seemed to immediately see me, slow down and gave me plenty of room as they passed. This was true even as I navigated difficult a roads like Briarcliff Rd. As you can see below, this road can be a problem for cars and bicycles alike as the lanes are very tight.

With my 3feetplease shirt on people slow down and wait to pass when it was safe. This was a huge change for this road as before I used these shirts people would try to pass me even with on coming cars coming leaving me no where to go and risking a head on crash. I could not believe the difference these shirts made! Yes, there were still those drivers that still do not use due caution, but the change in most drivers was unbelievable.

The over whelming success of navigating the Lee County roads using 3feetplease shirts made me feel I have found one of the positive projects for my new blog site that can make bicycling more enjoyable and safer for all while educating the motoring public. Therefore, in my up coming articles I will continue to tell you about where promoting this has taken me.