BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Bicyclist and Pedestrian safety are the top two important issues in this workshop. Without proper street signs and bike lanes, both are in danger to drivers in the community.
- Beginning of the week and during rush hours are prime time for bicycle crashes.
- 55% of pedestrian crashes are due to pedestrian's failure to yield.
- They plan to implement street lights and bike lanes to keep the community safe.
Residents in Southeast Bakersfield are coming together to workshop their ideas to improve their neighborhoods. I'm Eric J Dockery, your Bakersfield neighborhood reporter. The city is partnering with Berkeley Safe TREC and California Walks to make the streets on the east side safer.
The goals of the workshop are to increase education and community awareness of pedestrian and bicycle safety, along with prioritizing infrastructure improvement projects like bike paths and street lights.
Jason Cater said "There's quite a bit of crash data here in the city of Bakersfield. We know we have high frequency of bicycle and pedestrian collisions. That piece as well as some of the work we are doing prospering neighborhoods initiatives. We felt that our work aligned and would be effective for our community."
This meeting is just the beginning, California Walks said "they are just a helpful advocate to influence the community to take the initiative to improve their streets." They come with the blueprints and show how to go about the process.
"We select communities based on a variety of factors including need, existing infrastructure including, and how well organized the community is. So often communities will come to us, and need more capacity and will work with them to help them develop that capacity." said Kevin Shin
Pedestrians are victims but bicyclists are the biggest ones, due to them not having their own lanes. They have a higher rate of crashes than pedestrians.
For more information on how you can take part, you can reach out to California Walk with the link below. (calwalks.org) For 23ABC Im Eric J. Dockery your Bakersfield neighborhood reporter.
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