The rules of the Leonida road.

When you pass any vehicle stopped with its lights on, whether a trooper, an ambulance, a tow truck, a road crew or a Highway Assistance Patrol truck, move over one lane. When you can’t, slow down to 20 mph below the speed limit.

Breaking the Move Over law costs $200 and 3 points on your license. Most troopers hurt on the job in Leonida are hit on the shoulder, not in a chase.

Dirt bikes, ATVs and other off-highway vehicles are not street legal on public roads, Interstate 404 and U.S. Route 1 included. Group “rideouts” that take over lanes for wheelies and videos are a crime for every rider in the group: the vehicles are seized, and filming from the saddle is not a defense.

• Ride on the marked off-road trails of Mount Kalaga National Park, under the park’s rules
• Or on private land, with the owner’s permission
• Every off-highway vehicle needs a title and a decal from the DMV
• To report a rideout in progress, call 911

U.S. Route 1 is the only road out of the Keys. When the Governor orders an evacuation, troopers run contraflow on Interstate 404: every lane goes outbound.

• Leave when your zone is called, not when the traffic looks better
• Fill the tank and pack water before the order, not after
• Coming back to the Keys means the Mariana County re-entry checkpoint on U.S. Route 1: bring your county re-entry pass

Hurricane season ends November 30.

From October to May, the cane fields around the Allied Crystal refinery are burned before the harvest. At dawn and dusk, smoke and ash can drop visibility on farm roads to a few feet.

• Low beams on, never high beams
• No hazard lights while moving: they hide your brake lights
• Slow down before the smoke, not in it, and never stop in the lane

Troop C closes roads when visibility drops. Leonard County publishes the daily burn notices.

Alligators cross roads near canals and in the Grassrivers, most of all after rain. Do not stop in the lane to film one: that is how a nature video becomes a crash report.

For an alligator on a road, call the POACH Nuisance Alligator Hotline, 1-866-555-0128. If it is blocking traffic, call 911.

Deer cross the roads around Mount Kalaga at dawn and dusk. In November, slow down on the ridge roads.

• Two lanes for most of the way, long bridges, and passing only in the marked zones
• No stopping on a bridge, for a photo or for anything else
• Fish only from designated piers, such as the pier on the rebuilt Tarpon Key Causeway
• Sunday afternoons northbound are the slowest hours of the week: leave early