Oxnard Police Department taking part in bicycle and pedestrian safety operation

OXNARD, Calif. - The Oxnard Police Department is planning to take part in a bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement operation that is aimed at teaching bicyclists, drivers and pedestrians the rules of the road.

The enforcement will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 10 from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

During the operation, officers will be looking specifically for violations made by bicyclists, drivers and pedestrians that put roadway users in danger.

Examples of some of the violations they will be looking for in drivers include speeding, making illegal turns, failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks and failing to stop at signs and signals.

Pedestrian violations include crossing the street illegally and failing to yield to drivers who have right of way among other dangers.

Bicyclists will be stopped if they are seen riding on the wrong side of the road, are not complying with stop signs and signals or are violating any traffic laws that apply to both them and drivers.

This educational enforcement is in response to the alarming rise in bicycle and pedestrian fatalities. The Oxnard Police Department said in 2016, 138 bicyclists and 867 pedestrians were killed on California roads. Those numbers have risen nearly 25 percent over the past five years.

So far, Oxnard Police have investigated 12 fatal and 121 injury collisions involving bicyclists and pedestrians in 2019.

Funding for this operation was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.