Lodi Police plan safety enforcement operations

Bicycles and pedestrians to be focus on Monday

The Lodi Police Department will host a bike and pedestrian safety enforcement operation next Monday, focusing on collision-causing factors that involve motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists.

The department has mapped out locations over the past three years where pedestrian and bicycle collisions have occurred, along with the violations that led to those crashes. Extra officers will patrol areas where bike and pedestrian traffic and crashes occur.

Officers will look for violations made by drivers, cyclists and pedestrians that can lead to life-changing injuries, with special attention directed toward speeding drivers, illegal turns, failing to stop for signs and signals and failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks or any other dangerous violation.

Additionally, officers plan to watch for violations when pedestrians cross the street illegally or fail to yield to drivers who have the right of way.

Cyclists will be stopped and issued citations when they fail to follow the same traffic laws that apply to motorists.

Officers advise that all cyclists wear a helmet whenever they ride, a legal requirement for those younger than 18.

Pedestrians should cross the street only in marked crosswalks or at corners.

Bicycle and pedestrian fatalities are rising in California as more people use these nonmotorized means of transportation.

According to a press release, the Lodi Police Department has investigated one fatal and 60 injury collisions involving pedestrians and bicyclists during the past three years.

In 2013, California witnessed 701 pedestrians and 141 bicyclists killed, accounting for more than 28 percent of all traffic fatalities.