Saturation Patrol Planned for Friday

ALBANY, CA - The Albany Police Department will conduct a Bike and Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operation on Friday, May 20. The saturation patrol will focus on violations made by drivers, bike riders and pedestrians.

The department has mapped out locations over the past 4 years where pedestrian and bike collisions have occurred, along with the violations that led to those crashes.The extra officers will patrol those areas. where bike and pedestrian traffic and crashes occur in an effort to lower deaths and injuries.

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According to Albany Police Sgt. Chris Willis, "Officers will be looking for violations made by drivers, bike riders and pedestrians alike that can lead to life changing injuries. Special attention will be directed toward drivers speeding, making illegal turns, failing to stop for signs and signals, failing to yield to pedestrians in cross walks or any other dangerous violation."

Willis says that bicycle and pedestrian fatalities are rising in California. In Albany, police have investigated 42 injury collisions involving pedestrians and bicyclists during the past three years.

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

--Photo via Albany Police Dept.