Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming posts on anti-DUI checkpoints and other enforcement coming during the holidays and through the new year—while knowing that TODAY the Newport Beach Police Department is going to pay particular attention to motorcycle riders.
A specialized Motorcycle Safety Enforcement Operation has extra officers patrolling areas of Newps that are frequented by motorcyclists and where recent traffic collisions have occurred, in an effort to reduce injuries, according to a NBPD advisory.
Cops will be on the lookout for specific offenses such as speeding, driving on a suspended or revoked license, violations of motorcycle license endorsement, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and any other dangerous activities.
During the past two years in Newport Beach, one person died and 91 others were injured in traffic collisions involving motorcycles, according to the department, which passes along these tips to reduce those statistics in the future:
* See and be seen;
* Use your lane position to increase visibility;
* Change lanes only when there is ample room;
* Match your speed to surrounding traffic;
* Always wear a DOT-compliant helmet and brightly-colored protective clothing;
* Ride with lights on, even during daylight hours.
Meanwhile, these safety tips are passed along for bus, car, van and truck drivers:
*Share the road;
* Look twice for motorcyclists, especially when entering the roadway, turning or changing lanes;
* Remember that motorcyclists are allowed in HOV lanes, unless prohibited by signage.
Funding for the motorcycle operations comes from a California Office of Traffic and Safety grant, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.