Providing education, training, and reinforcement are key strategies in improving bicyclist and motorist traffic skills and behavior. The primary goal of an educational strategy is to give people both the means and the motivation to alter their behavior and reduce reckless actions and crashes. To implement the strategy, an integrated, multidisciplinary approach that links hard policies (for example, changes in infrastructure) and soft policies (for example, public relations campaigns) and addresses both bicyclists and motorists has the greatest chance of success.
Police enforcement is a primary component in reinforcing proper behaviors and maintaining a safe environment for all modes of travel. Well-publicized enforcement campaigns, combined with public education programs, can be effective in deterring careless and reckless driving and encouraging drivers to share the roadway with bicyclists (and pedestrians). Most importantly, by enforcing the traffic code, police reinforce a sense of right and wrong in the general public and lend credibility to traffic safety educational programs and traffic laws and control devices. Law enforcement officers sometimes find it difficult to "ticket" bicyclists, and even to stop a young child. However, warnings, in lieu of citations, can be effective in deterring inappropriate bicyclist behaviors.
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