TAMPA, Fla. — If you’ve been driving around Hillsborough County, you've likely taken note of what appear to be large green crosswalks with the silhouette of a biker on them.
Those vivid green “bike boxes” have been installed at several intersections as a way to make cyclists more visible and safer as they navigate the city. They are designed for cyclists to line up in front of stopped traffic, making them more visible as they wait for that light to turn.
It's part of a county-wide effort to increase road safety for cyclists and pedestrians. According to data from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Florida leads the nation in bicycle deaths per capita, with injuries also topping the list nationwide.
"Cycling in Tampa can be a challenge. So you want to make sure you're visible all the time," local cyclist Michelle Collet-Kriz said. "The drivers are distracted like they are everywhere and people sometimes don't notice you."
Collet-Kriz bikes nearly 30 miles a day, most days of the week, and said she does everything in her power to stay safe on the roadway.
"I have lights on the front and back of my bike and a Lumos helmet," she said. "I have a rearview mirror here and I can set it right and glance into it and see people coming up on me."
But despite her many precautions, Michelle said she has been hit twice while riding.
Hillsborough County Transportation Engineer Bob Campbell pushed to have the bike boxes installed.
"We're experiencing so many deaths involving bicycles, mainly turning left through intersections, and we needed to create a way where the driver can see the biker where he starts accelerating out of traffic," Campbell explained.
Campbell said, so far, they've been incredibly effective.
"Here, what we've seen is zero deaths, zero crashes [where they're installed.] Around the country, what they've seen is a 50% reduction in bicycle crashes once these have been installed at a particular intersection with particular problems," he said.
Campbell said over the next 10 years, Hillsborough County's 'Vision Zero' campaign will implement multiple engineering and technological advancements with the goal of eliminating cycling and pedestrian crashes.
Bike boxes, Michelle Collet-Kriz said, are an encouraging start.
"I support anything we can do to help drivers who don't cycle understand that bikes are on the road and you need to watch them in the same way you need to watch for anything else," she explained. "Bikes aren't a hazard. We share the road."
Hillsborough County Transportation said the bike boxes also work to protect pedestrians, as the bike boxes reduce the risk of cars encroaching on the crosswalks.