OCALA, FL (352today.com) – The old adage, “Look both ways before you cross the street,” is more important than ever.  Ocala Police Chief Mike Balken says that teaching pedestrians and bicyclists about the importance of safety through education and enforcement has taken on greater meaning.

Target Zero is a statewide initiative to lower the crash mortality rate to zero, and even though it may seem like an unreachable goal, it’s something that each community is striving for.  The Ocala City Council approved a letter of agreement and the contract with the Institute of Police Technology and Management for the receipt of grant funding for the Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety High Visibility Education and Enforcement Campaign in the amount of $50,810, Aug. 6, 2024.

“It’s a difficult and lofty goal just because of the sheer volume of crashes that we see across the state and the fatalities that result from that,” says Chief Balken.

“There have been eight fatalities in Ocala in 2024 with several of those being pedestrians,” Balken shares. “We do take this topic very seriously. We dial in on the causations of those crashes. We target in on the locations, predominantly where those crashes are happening.”

Balken says that the Ocala Police Department (OPD) allocates their resources effectively in places they can have the most impact.

“The end goal of the bike and pedestrian grant is to allow us through overtime dollars from the state to bring in additional folks that are trained in bike pedestrian safety to go out and enforce laws that are directly related to bicycle crashes and or pedestrian crashes,” says Balken. “When you get into bicycle violations or people violating bicycle rights, right-of-way rights or pedestrian rights, it’s a more technical job.”

In major cities, Balken explains that there is a large number of people crossing at the crosswalks. In a city of Ocala’s size, the numbers are far less in comparison, the chief says. He explains that it’s often just one person involved, leading to less visibility, which is why there’s an emphasis on education to make sure that pedestrians and bicyclists understand that knowing the laws is a top priority.

“The biggest offenders are the pedestrians themselves crossing a six-lane highway, not a crosswalk.  They’re playing Frogger out there,” says Balken, referring to the popular ’80s video game where the object of the game was for the frog to safely cross the road. “It’s so simple to maintain pedestrian safety on their end. To the intersection, use the crosswalk and cross with the light. We have to focus our efforts on the actual violator, and statistics tell us it’s typically the pedestrian. Bicyclists, I would argue that the percentage changes.”

Balken says that the idea is to be highly visible, so not only will the person that’s stopped be impacted but the people who are passing will see when enforcement action is being taken.

“The enforcement action may be just a verbal warning, or it may be a citation as well,” says Balken. “The idea is that we want to change our driving behavior, unsafe driving behavior, unsafe pedestrian or bicyclists’ behavior that’s contributing to the crash.”

There’s a term that may seem antiquated, but its gravity remains relevant in today’s society especially when someone violates the existing laws that are in place.

“Jaywalking under the influence is something that we’ve had an issue with,” says Balken. “We have a percentage of our population that’s homeless that contributes to that traffic crash rate. Drug addiction, alcohol abuse, mental health are all contributing factors to what we’re looking at. A pedestrian stop might result in a Marchman Act; you’re taking somebody to get treatment, instead of a ticket. We have those tools available to us.”

The chief says that grant funding does require specialized training for the officers through the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles program toward Target Zero.  Balken says that a couple of dozen officers have already gone through the process.

“It’s really more designed to alert the officers to what the contributing causes are; what you need to be looking for,” explains Balken. “The volume you see on our roadways now, you’re going to see more violations with more cars put on the road. It’s easy picking out there. The violations are pretty clear and are easily observable by the officer that’s paying attention to take action on them.”