Petaluma crackdown Friday on bicyclists, pedestrians

Petaluma police on Friday will be on the lookout for bicyclists and pedestrians who don't pay attention to traffic laws.

Funded through a grant from the state Office of Traffic Safety, the special enforcement will be 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. with traffic officers roaming throughout the city.

In 2009, the year for which the latest data is available, OTS's ranking of cities by bicycle collisions put Petaluma at No. 8 out of 104 other cities with similar populations and total daily miles traveled by bicyclists. For cyclists younger than 15, Petaluma ranked as the second worst city based on daily miles traveled and third worst by population.

"Although bicycle collisions have been on a downward trend, the rankings indicate we still have a significant bicycle collision program," Police Sgt. Ken Savano said in a statement.

For graphics, which are from the Petaluma traffic unit, click to enlarge.

(Jim Fremgen, Press Democrat news editor, writes the Road Warrior blog. Follow the Road Warrior on Twitter via @PDRoadWarrior.)

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