Santa Maria Police step up bicycle, pedestrian safety

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Santa Maria police are stepping up bicycle and pedestrian safety in the city.

Starting today, extra patrols will be on the street looking for collisions causing factors in areas with high pedestrian and bicyclist traffic. For drivers that includes speeding, illegal turns, failure to stop at signs and signals and failure to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.

Pedestrians could be cited for crossing the street illegally, jaywalking and failure to yield to drivers who have the right of way. The same traffic safety laws that apply to drivers also apply to bicyclists. The mandatory helmet safety law for cyclists under the age of 18 will also be enforced.

Santa Maria Police says it has investigated about 230 injury collisions in the city involving pedestrians and bicyclists in the past three years, four were deadly.

Based on the most recent data available, California leads the nation in bicycle and pedestrian deaths.

The SMPD Bike and Pedestrian Safety operation is being funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety.