The morning of April 18, Morgan Hill will be covered with police officers from several area jurisdictions to conduct a citywide “high-visibility, directed traffic enforcement operation,” according to a press release from Morgan Hill Police Department.
The operation is scheduled on city streets from 6:30am to 10am April 18. Traffic officers from Campbell Police Department, Sunnyvale Dept. of Public Safety, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, Mountain View PD, Milpitas PD, San Jose PD, Santa Clara PD and Los Altos PD will participate in the Morgan Hill operation.
During the operation, these officers will pay “special attention” to traffic violations related to pedestrian and bicycle safety along Morgan Hill’s arterial roadways, according to authorities. These violations include “pedestrian right-of-way, jaywalking, 3 foot buffer for bicyclists, red light/stop sign violations, distracted driving, and any other dangerous violations that are observed.”
The MHPD press release continues: “The goal of the program is to saturate problem areas with officers during commute hours to enforce traffic laws and reduce injury collisions.”
Similar multi-agency traffic enforcement efforts will take place monthly in different communities throughout the year, rotating through participating cities within the Bay Area. A similar operation took place in Morgan Hill in April 2017, when officers from several agencies ticketed almost 200 traffic tickets in a four-hour period on local streets, according to police.
In anticipation of the upcoming April 18 operation, MHPD reminded motorists, pedestrians and cyclists of the following traffic safety tips:
• Pedestrians and bicyclists should cross streets at marked crosswalks or intersections, and obey traffic signals such as WALK/DON’T WALK signs;
• Pedestrians and bicyclists should not wear headphones or talk on their cell phones while in the roadway;
• Bicyclists should have their bicycle equipped with a white light on the front visible from a distance of 300 feet and a red reflector visible from a distance of 500 feet to the rear, during darkness;
• Bicyclists operating on the roadway are subject to obeying all rules of the road, including stop signs and lighted traffic signals;
• Bicyclists shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian.
And MHPD advised motorists that the following violations can result in collisions, injuries and even fatalities:
• Speeding;
• Failure to stop for red lights or stop signs;
• Failure to yield to pedestrians and bicyclists;
• Distracted driving;
• Blocking crosswalks;
• Turning on permitted light (green signal) but not looking for pedestrian properly crossing in crosswalk.
