Pasadena Police Department Hopes To Improve Motorcycle Safety

Pasadena Police Department Hopes To Improve Motorcycle Safety
Police to increase enforcement aimed at dangerous riders and careless motorists
The Pasadena Police Department will be conducting a specialized Motorcycle Safety Enforcement Operation on Saturday, August 25 in an effort to continue lowering deaths and injuries. Extra officers will be on duty patrolling areas frequented by motorcyclists and where motorcycle crashes occur. Officers will be looking for drivers and riders who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol and cracking down on traffic violations made by motorcyclists as well as other vehicle drivers that can lead to motorcycle collisions, injuries and fatalities.
While motorcycle fatalities had been on the rise in California, increasing 175 percent in the last decade, from 204 killed in 1998 to 560 killed in 2008, the trend has changed. In 2009, California experienced a 29.6 percent reduction with 394 motorcyclists killed, and preliminary 2010 numbers indicate another 10 percent drop to 353 motorcyclists killed.
The Pasadena Police Department has had one fatality involving a motorcyclist this year.
Riders can receive training through the California Motorcyclist Safety Program. Information and training locations are available at www.CA-msp.org or 1-877 RIDE 411 or 1-877-743-3411.
Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.