From Jan. 4 to 18, the Palo Alto Police Department (PAPD) conducted Operation Safe Passage. Sponsored by the California Highway Patrol, the program strives to encourage safe travel to school. “Operation Safe Passage is an operation that involves the police providing a heavy presence on our school corridors to ensure that students have a safe environment to go to and from school,” Traffic Supervisor and Sergeant Steve Herrera, who manages the program, said. “We enforce the applicable laws by citing both vehicles and bicyclists who are not providing a safe passage.”

Operation Safe Passage occurs twice a year, once at the beginning of the school year and again in early January. Police patrol the neighborhood and enforce safety by ticketing motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists who violate traffic laws. “Our goal is to make sure that we, as a city, have done every thing we can to make sure that students are safe in their journey to and from school,” Herrera said.

Herrera said both drivers and bicyclists benefit from the program. “Operation Safe Passage brings more awareness to drivers and students,” he said. “No one wants to get a ticket and the way to avoid getting one is to drive safely and within the law. Driving and bicycling more safely prevents injuries and saves lives.”