May designated bicycle enforcement month

The Fairfield Police Department will be conducting a special bicycle enforcement project the month of May to educate bicyclists about the rules of the road and courtesy to cars and pedestrians.

According to an announcement from the police department, there have been several bicycle vs. car accidents recently caused by bicyclists not obeying the rules of the road.

In addition, the police department has received numerous complaints from merchants in the downtown area about bicyclists riding on the sidewalks and nearly running over customers, running stop signs and riding the wrong way on one-way streets.

The police are planning to write written warnings initially. Officers will be able to check if a bicyclist has been stopped before, and if he or she has on-going problems, a citation can be issued. An officer also can issue a citation if the bicyclist swears at him or fails to stop as directed.

Many bicyclists do not realize they may be issued citations the same as a driver of a car, and it can be costly.

For the complete article, see the Wednesday, May 5, 2010, printed edition of The Fairfield Ledger.