Deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station carried out pedestrian safety enforcement operations Tuesday and ended up handing out 48 citations for alleged violations.
The citations issued in the crackdown in Newhall included: unsafe speed, excessively loud music, two for red light violations and more than a dozen citations for drivers failing to yield to a pedestrian.
The lion’s share of alleged offenses which netted 31 people who were handed a citation – cell phone violations.
Deputies carried out the operation with a focus on enforcing collision causing factors involving motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists, according to a post on the SCV Sheriff’s social media site.
The department has mapped out locations over the past three years where pedestrian and bike collisions have occurred along with the violations that led to those crashes, according to the post.
Extra officers were on duty patrolling areas where bike and pedestrian traffic and crashes occur in an effort to lower deaths and injuries.
They looked for violations made by drivers, bike riders and pedestrians alike that can lead to life changing injuries.
Special attention was directed at drivers speeding, making illegal turns, failing to stop for signs and signals, failing to yield to pedestrians in cross walks or any other dangerous violation, according to the sheriff’s post.
Deputies taking part in the crackdown also looked for violations involving pedestrians who cross the street illegally or fail to yield to drivers who have the right of way.
Bike riders were stopped and citations issued when they fail to follow the same traffic laws that apply to motorists.
All riders are reminded to always wear a helmet – those under 18 years of age must wear helmets by law. 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 non-motorized means of transportation, according to statistics cited by the SCV Sheriff’s social media post.
In the contract cities, policed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, deputies have investigated 3,512 fatal and 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.
Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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