SPD enforces bike safety

The Susanville Police Department conducted a traffic safety enforcement operation Thursday May 26, targeting bicycle safety.

Officers issued nine traffic citations. The Susanville Police Department focused on the most dangerous driver behaviors such as speeding, making illegal turns, failure to yield to bicyclists or pedestrians and stop sign/red light running.

The Susanville Police Department suggests the following safety tips for bicyclists and drivers:
Drivers
• Slow down and follow the speed limit. Be careful traveling through intersections.
• Look carefully for bicyclists and pedestrians before making a turn or opening a car
door near streets or bike paths.
• Be patient when traveling behind a bicyclist. • Maintain at minimum 3 feet of
space when passing or overtaking a bicyclist.
• Never drive distracted or impaired.

Bike riders
• Use lights at night (at minimum, a front white light and rear red reflector).
• Although not required for riders 18 and older, always wear a properly secured helmet. Helmets significantly reduce the chance of a head injury in the event of a crash.
• Bicyclists must travel in the same direction of traffic and have the same requirements as any slow-moving vehicle.
• Yield to pedestrians, just as a driver would. Pedestrians have the right-of-way within marked crosswalks or within unmarked crosswalks at intersections.

Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.