School is out. And, this means more than 100,000 Orange County students are on summer break – playing outside, biking through neighborhoods or just having fun. In June, Orange County Sherriff’s Office (OCSO) and Orlando Police Department (OPD) focused their efforts on ped safety, reminding drivers they must yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. If not, they could be charged with failure to yield – $164 ticket and 3-points on their license.
Dubbed Operation Best Foot Forward, OPD and OCSO enforced ten
crosswalks, issuing a total of 98 warnings and 161 tickets over three days. This is the seventh high visibility enforcement since Best Foot Forward (BFF) launched in June 2012. The good news is more drivers are complying and the number of citations are decreasing. Look no further than the Orlando Urban Trail crosswalk on Virginia Drive – three citations in one hour and driver yield rates nearing 70%.
Unfortunately, this is not the case for the mid-block crossing at S. Conway Rd at Hargill Dr – 41 citations in one hour and only 3.8% of drivers yield. There is much more work to do. As one resident recently stated – “Road safety is everyone’s responsibility — drivers cannot operate with a sense of entitlement with a ‘me first’ attitude, nor can pedestrians.” Next Operation BFF is scheduled for August – just in time for school.
To see more photos click here.
Media Coverage:
Bungalower – OPD Enforcing Pedestrian Crossings This Week
CLICK ORLANDO – Orange County police ticketing drivers to enforce pedestrian crosswalk safety
WKMG – ORD (CBS) – Local 6: morning News @ 6 a.m.
WKMG – ORD (CBS) – CBS This Morning
WKMG – ORD (CBS) – Local 6 News @ Noon
WFTV-ORD (ABC) – Eyewitness News @ 4
Central Florida Future – Law enforcement cracks down on crosswalk
