Last week the University of Arizona Police Department was awarded a grant to “educate and enforce” bicycle and pedestrian violations. This week UAPD was stationed at Olive and 2nd Street stopping cyclists.
According to a UAPD press release, the department received the state grant to target pedestrian and bicycling violations.
Understanding and complying with traffic laws as they apply to bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists is crucial in promoting a safe travel environment for everyone. The Bicycle/Pedestrian deployments will be at high traffic volume times and are designed to educate community members on University regulations and enforce Arizona State laws related to bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
In an effort to increase pedestrian and bicycle safety, University of Arizona Police Officers will also hand out reflective wrist straps to pedestrians and bike lights to bicyclists at night to increasing voluntary compliance with bicycle laws.
This explains the UAPD motorcycle cops I have seen for the past several days racing around at very high rates of speed on campus bike paths. In one instance, I think one cop probably hit 25 mph next to the Science Library.
Out of curiosity, does this enforcement include things like motorists not yielding the right of way to pedestrians in crosswalks? That seems like a clear case of safety, and also “Arizona State laws related to bicycle and pedestrian traffic.”
I so very rarely see drivers stop for people who are waiting at crosswalks.
Also, does anyone know the source of the grant funds?
@nugget It’s in the UA press release (linked in the article) as the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS).
The Tucson Police Department received a similar grant this year and they are planning 48 deployments from February 15 to September 15. At the January BAC meeting, Sgt Fernandez said they are planning to use the BAC’s recommendations from early 2014 (which was to focus enforcement efforts at several major intersections with documented histories of crashes rather than at residential stop signs). He also said they were planning to deploy several times in school zones and at HAWK crossings.
Alas, I thought that public shaming of non-drivers was no longer the desired strategy, but here it is.
I’d like to see more enforcement and public shaming of cars speeding through crossing signs and signals.
Bikes/pedestrians will continue to jay-walk and jay-ride in order to survive and avoid collision and injury trying to use infrastructure that was built with automobile speed and convenience, rather than safety for all users, in mind.
I enjoy the photo of the cop with his massive automobile blocking the road, ticketing the cyclist, who is standing in the middle of the road in the way of traffic in an unsafe position, and making it unsafe for cyclists trying to ride around them. Cops in cars/motorcycles should not be allowed to harass bikers/pedestrians. Cops should be on bikes or on foot themselves. How about we get a grant to educate cops about the dangers of biking and walking in automobile centric environments?
I fail to see how stopping and ticketing cyclists and pedestrians (a sort of public shaming) improves safety. Does anyone have scientific references showing that this works?
When are we going to change the laws that makes it legal for drivers to kill at will with their automobiles?
@nugget The biker’s buddy, Sgt. Pryor, just yells in the radio, “Give ’em a ticket.” no matter what.
Hardly need grant funds for that. Grant funds are used to pad cops pay by providing easy overtime.
@Collin Forbes Thanks; I didn’t follow any links.