Bicycle Safety Month brings safety tips
ESCONDIDO, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — May is National Bicycle Safety Month, and from safety advocates to police, they are offering safety tips while pushing for more safety measures.
Police, like in Escondido, are using the month to update drivers and cyclists on the latest road rules.
“Our message is one of share the road,” said Lieutenant Damian Jackson, Escondido Police Public Information Officer.
Jackson said officers with their traffic unit will be spending the month of May to enforce and educate on bicycle safety. Jackson said they will have details specifically targeting bicycle enforcement and education, including Assembly Bill 1909, also known as the OmniBike bill, which requires drivers to change lanes, if feasible when passing a bicycle in the bike lane instead of only keeping a distance of three feet.
Jackson said AB1909 provides a lane buffer between the car and bike.
“I don’t think it’s something that is being taken as seriously as it should,” Jackson said.
Laura Keenan, founder of Families for Safe Streets San Diego, is starting off bicycle safety month pleading to the city of San Diego for safety improvements at the city’s fatal 15 most dangerous intersections, as identified in a UC Berkley study.
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Keenan lost her husband Matt in September 2021. A wrong-way driver stuck and killed Matt while he was riding in the bike lane on Camino Del Rio South in Mission Valley.
Their son was 15 months old at the time.
“I want more than anything for people to feel safe on their bikes and ride with freedom. Matt lived riding his bike, and this is one of the reasons I do this,” Keenan said.
Keenan said she is asking for Mayor Todd Gloria’s budget to allocate existing funding for those 15 intersections to have painted stripes and signals with sounds.
The mayor’s office told FOX 5/KUSI in an email, “Our office is closely monitoring the feedback provided during the budget review process, which will help inform the revised budget that the Mayor will present in two weeks.”
Keenan said the city council has been supportive, however, waiting for the requested safety measures is worth keeping on top of city leaders.
“We are changing the conversations but we need to see more action, and right now, it doesn’t feel like they are making seem like they are making a concerted effort to drive real change,” Keenan said.
For the new bicycle move-over law, Jackson said because it is in its infancy with enforcement, they are looking to educate drivers first.
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