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Our Community Needs

Naples Pathways Coalition–

And We Need You

by Michelle Avola-Brown, Executive Director, Naples Pathways Coalition

ollier County and Naples are renowned The Paradise Coast Trail has been adopted into the State
for their incredible beauty and quality of of Florida’s SUN Trail System and is now part of the Florida
Clife. We want to enjoy all aspects of our Department of Transportation’s planning process. This means it will
community, and safety for people who bike and be expedited and should be completed within five to seven years.
walk is a big part of that. But there’s a problem: This trail is vital to enhance safe walking, running, and bicycling
many of our streets are terribly dangerous for and reduce crashes and fatalities. It will also provide significant
those traveling on foot or by bicycle. Distracted economic benefits to Collier County and the entire region. We
driving, speeding, and lack of awareness of pedestrians and cyclists must drive community support and involvement to encourage
have led to many crashes that have changed lives forever. Whether local and state leaders to prioritize this project. We need to ensure
you are a parent of young children or enjoy walking or riding for completion is expedited.
exercise or pleasure, you probably think twice before setting out on Our second keystone project is ending distracted driving
our roads. through our Hands-Free Florida campaign. On average, nine
And, sadly, since Florida has the highest rate of pedestrian and people die on Florida roads EVERY DAY, and six of these tragic
cyclist fatalities of any other state, your concerns are real! Shouldn’t deaths are attributed to distracted driving. Although texting while
we all be able to share the road safely? Isn’t it time to change our driving is a primary offense in Florida, the loopholes in our laws
laws to prioritize safety for pedestrians and cyclists? We have seen make it hard to enforce. We are pushing for hands-free cell phone
too many severe injuries and fatalities - and we know more will use legislation in Florida. There are already 29 other states with this
come - unless we take decisive action. legal requirement that is saving lives. Ohio enacted a hands-free
Naples Pathways Coalition aims to improve the safety of cell phone use law in April 2023, and there was a 25% reduction in
pedestrians and cyclists in Collier County by educating lawmakers, road fatalities in the six months that followed compared to the same
law enforcement officers, pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers about the period the previous year. What if we could save one out of every
reality of our roads and safer ways to use them. We fight for laws four lives that are taken on our roads?
that protect the safety of all road users and for the development of At the time of this writing, we have received unanimous, bi-
safe infrastructure in roadway design to ensure every road user is partisan support from two subcommittees for our House Bill 1469,
considered when roads are added or modified. Our passion remains and we are awaiting movement on our Senate Bill 1664, which both
undeterred: the need for safety for people who bike, walk, or run has would require hands-free cell phone use on every Florida road. We
only grown stronger. will keep working to ensure this legislation is enacted in Florida.
The first of our two keystone projects is the Paradise Coast Trail, We invite you to join us on this important mission!
which will be a 70+ mile paved, ten to twelve-foot wide separated r You can do that by becoming a member of Naples Pathways.
trail connecting Naples to Collier Seminole State Park, Bonita Please visit www.NaplesPathways.org/Join
th
Springs, Ave Maria, Immokalee, and Marco Island. This will be r You can participate in our events. The 18 Annual Naples Bike
rd
a trail that everyone can enjoy without fear of being run down by Brunch & Walk is on March 3 : www.bit.ly/BIKEBRUNCH2024,
a distracted or aggressive driver. Counters on the Gordon River and we are hosting a movie premiere of The Engine Inside on
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Greenway show that nearly 1,000 pedestrians and cyclists (and March 19 : www.bit.ly/EngineInside
dogs) enjoy the trail daily during season, even though it is only four r You can help us end distracted driving by committing to put your
miles long and not connected to other trails. phone down while driving, use Bluetooth for any phone use behind
Naples Pathways introduced the vision for the trail in 2018. the wheel, and sign our petition at www.HandsFreeFlorida.org
In 2020, we successfully applied for and received $250,000 in r You can also make a tax-deductible donation at
state funding through a Legislative Funding Request endorsed by www.NaplesPathways.org/Donate
Senator Passidomo and helped raise another $100,000 to complete Collier County is such a wonderful place to live and visit,
the $350,000 initial Feasibility Study. We bypassed the lengthy and with the community’s support, we will make it a wonderful
transportation project list, which put the Paradise Coast Trail five place to walk, run, and bike as well!
years ahead of schedule. The study for the entire 70-mile corridor For further information or questions about getting involved,
was completed in July of 2022. please contact Michelle@NaplesPathways.org

Life in Naples | March 2024 31