SACRAMENTO, Calif. – To help support the
California Highway Patrol’s (CHP) yearlong effort to improve pedestrian and
bicycle safety, the Department was awarded the California Pedestrian
and Bicyclist Enforcement and Education Project VIII grant. The CHP will use the grant funds to conduct enhanced-enforcement
patrols and public awareness campaigns through September 30, 2021.
“Whether traveling by motor vehicle, bicycle, or on
foot, we all share the road. Bicycle and
pedestrian safety is everyone’s responsibility,” CHP Commissioner Warren
Stanley said. “This grant provides
us additional resources to focus on the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists,
our most vulnerable roadway users.”
Pedestrian and bicycle fatalities accounted for nearly 33 percent of all
traffic-related deaths in California in 2018. The CHP reminds motorists to always scan each
intersection for potential foot and bicycle traffic and to yield the
right-of-way to pedestrians whether in marked or unmarked crosswalks.
On October 7 – the National Center for Safe Routes to School’s “Walk and Bike to School Day” – the CHP will focus on locations with high numbers of
pedestrian and bicyclist crashes. Officers
in plain clothes will work with uniformed officers to monitor crosswalks for
motorists and pedestrians who fail to yield the right-of-way or who take unsafe
or illegal actions.
The CHP will also use the grant funding to educate the public on safe and
courteous traffic behavior through public presentations and safety
publications, and to provide bicycle and pedestrian safety equipment for
distribution including bicycle helmets and reflective gear. Funding for this program was provided by the California Office of Traffic
Safety through a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The
mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of Safety, Service, and
Security.
###