CLEARWATER, Fla. — As we hear about more crashes involving pedestrians and bicycles in our region, the Clearwater Police Department is about to launch a safety initiative that will target some of the worst areas for those collisions.
Riders and joggers in the area say it’s needed.
Spend some time along the Pinellas Trail and it’s not hard to find a cyclist or pedestrian who’s got a story about being hit, nearly hit, or knows someone who has been.
“Almost every weekend here there's some sort of incident here. Whether it is a car, hitting a bike, a bike hitting a car,” said Mario Montero.
“Barreling through and almost ran into them,” said Phil Quinton. “Doing like 40 or 50 miles an hour just ignoring the traffic.”
“I was slammed into a motorized vehicle,” said cyclist Lisa Lancaster. “The person just didn't see me at all. And that was really scary.”
The statistics confirm it.
According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, there have been 442 bicycle-related crashes so far this year. Seven of them were fatal. There were also another 349 pedestrian crashes and 28 of those people were killed.
So now, Clearwater is about to launch a six-month enforcement effort using a contract with the University of North Florida, and the Florida Department of Transportation to increase visibility and try to bring those numbers down.
“I hope it would be successful just to get more awareness to the cyclist community. Car drivers,” said Robert Ferrin who operates the Hands On bicycle shop in Clearwater.
Ferrin says he's seen the increase firsthand. Especially as the popularity of e-bikes has grown.
Safety, he says, is everyone’s responsibility.
“No, not just the cyclist or the car driver. Be aware,” he said. “You know?”
Clearwater police plan to concentrate their enhanced visibility on some of the city's busiest roads including Gulf to Bay Boulevard, Drew St., Court Street, and Missouri Avenue.
The idea, they say, is to educate, not just drivers, but walkers, runners and cyclists too.
For the most part, police plan to issue warnings, but they'll also issue citations if they believe it's warranted.
Clearwater PD’s contract will provide them with a little over $27,000 for the stepped-up patrols between Oct. 1 and May 10 of next year.