Thousand Oaks – Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operations Planned

The Thousand Oaks Police Department will step up pedestrian safety enforcement operations on Wednesday December 12, 2018 with focused enforcement on collision causing factors involving motorists and pedestrians. Routine traffic patrols will focus efforts in trouble spots while special targeted patrols will also be deployed to crackdown on drivers and pedestrians who violate traffic laws meant to protect all roadway users.

The department has mapped out locations over the past several years where pedestrian involved collisions have occurred along with the violations that led to those crashes. Officers will be looking for traffic offenses made by drivers and pedestrians alike that can lead to life changing injuries. Special attention will be directed toward drivers speeding, driving distracted, making illegal turns, failing to stop for signs and signals, failing to yield to pedestrians in cross walks or any other dangerous violation. Additionally, enforcement will be taken for observed violations when pedestrians cross the street illegally or fail to yield to drivers who have the right of way. Pedestrians should cross the street only in marked crosswalks or intersections.

Pedestrian fatalities are rising in California as more people use non-motorized means of transportation. In 2016, California witnessed 867 pedestrian deaths accounting for nearly 24 percent of all roadway fatalities, much higher than the national average of 15 percent.

A national study reveals that pedestrians and drivers do not obey laws and signals consistently and many often use cell phones, text and listen to music while walking or driving. Only 60 percent of pedestrians said they expected drivers to stop when they were in crosswalks, even though they have the right-of-way.