LANSING, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The Michigan State Police (MSP) Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP) is announcing Bicyclist Safety Enforcement Week, which begins on September 9 and lasts until September 15.
Officials announced this week that overtime mobilization grants have been awarded to law enforcement agencies in seven Michigan cities – Detroit, Dearborn, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Muskegon, and Warren.
As a result, concentration enforcement efforts in each of those cities will be in place for the week.
The grants will focus on the laws applicable to bicyclist safety to help reduce bicyclist injuries and fatalities. The OHSP has identified these cities as having some of the highest number of bicycle-involved crashes over a five-year period.
“Motorists need to remember that bicyclists have an equal right to the road,” OHSP director Michael L. Prince said in a statement. “When passing a bicyclist, it’s state law to give them at least three feet while doing so. Everyone needs to obey traffic signs and signals and stay alert for each other.”
Although the three-foot passing law exists statewide, in some places, drivers must give even more room when passing a bicyclist. For example, local five-foot passing ordinances exist in Kalamazoo, Portage and Kalamazoo and Oshtemo townships.
“Unsafe passing, distracted driving, impaired and aggressive driving, speeding and ignoring traffic control devices pose unacceptable public dangers,” warns Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller. “Following the rules of the road also applies to bicyclists. Don’t run red lights. Don’t ride on the wrong side of the road. You put yourself in harm’s way if you don’t ride your bike like you would drive a car.”
Between 2015 and 2019, bicycle crash data for the seven Michigan cities listed show the following:
- Detroit with a total of 868 crashes;
- Grand Rapids with a total of 414;
- Lansing with a total of 213;
- Kalamazoo with a total of 194;
- Warren with a total of 151;
- Dearborn with a total of 116, and
- Muskegon with a total of 79.
Over the last five years, 137 people have been killed in bicyclist-involved crashes in Michigan, according to the OHSP.
During this campaign, officers will be on the lookout for violations by drivers that include: illegal turns, failing to stop at a signal or stop sign, failing to give at least three feet when passing a bicyclist, and blocking a roadway that interferes with the normal flow of traffic.
Officers will also be looking for violations by bicyclists that include not riding with traffic, not using lights when biking at night, and riding more than two abreast.
Officials add that the enforcement campaign is supported with federal traffic safety funds provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and coordinated by the OHSP.
