Edhat StaffSource: Santa Barbara Police Department
The Santa Barbara Police Department will be stepping up Bike & Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operations on Saturday, June 3, 2017. The focused enforcement will be specifically directed to collision causing factors involving motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists.
Bicycle and pedestrian fatalities are rising in California as more people use these non-motorized means of transportation. Locally, the Santa Barbara Police Department has investigated 5 fatal and 553 injury collisions involving pedestrians and bicyclists during the past three (3) years. In 2013, California reported 701 pedestrian and 141 bicyclists killed due to collisions. This accounted for more than 28 percent of all traffic fatalities in the state for that year.
In an effort to help reduce these numbers, the Santa Barbara Police Department has mapped out locations where pedestrian and bike collisions have occurred more frequently over the past 3 years. This information includes what type of violations caused or led to those crashes. Extra Officers will be on duty patrolling the areas where bike and pedestrian traffic has been shown to frequent, in conjunction with the locations where higher numbers of crashes occur. This is all in an effort to help lower deaths and injuries from these type of collisions.
Officers will be looking to take enforcement action on violations made by drivers, bike riders and pedestrians alike which regularly lead to life altering injuries or death. Special attention will be directed toward drivers speeding, making illegal turns, failing to stop for signs and signals, failing to yield to pedestrians in cross walks and any other related dangerous violations.
Additionally, enforcement will be taken for observed violations when pedestrians cross the street illegally or fail to yield to drivers who have the right of way. Bicycle riders will also be stopped and enforcement action will be taken when they fail to follow the same traffic laws which govern all motorists. These laws also apply to all bicycles traveling on the roadway.
The Santa Barbara Police Department wants to remind all pedestrians that they should cross the street only in marked crosswalks or at corners, and to look both ways before crossing. In addition all bicycle riders should always wear a helmet for their safety and those under 18 years of age must wear helmets by law.
Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
