The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is stepping up bike and pedestrian safety enforcement operations in the Santa Clarita Valley today, officials announced this morning.

Deputies are focusing on collision-causing factors involving motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists.

The department has mapped out locations over the past three years where pedestrian and bike collisions have occurred along with the violations that led to those crashes. Extra deputies are on duty patrolling areas where bike and pedestrian traffic and crashes occur in an effort to lower deaths and injuries.

Deputies are looking for violations made by drivers, bike riders and pedestrians alike that can lead to life-changing injuries.

Special attention will be directed toward drivers speeding, making illegal turns, failing to stop for signs and signals, failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks or any other dangerous violation.

Additionally, enforcement will be taken for observed violations when pedestrians cross the street illegally or fail to yield to drivers who have the right of way.

Pedestrians should cross the street only in marked crosswalks or at corners.

Bike riders will be stopped and citations issued when they fail to follow the same traffic laws that apply to motorists. All riders are reminded to always wear a helmet – those under 18 years of age must wear helmets by law.

Bicycle and pedestrian fatalities are rising in California as more people use these non-motorized means of transportation.

The Sheriff’s Department has investigated 4,909 fatal and injury collisions involving pedestrians and bicyclists during the past three years. In 2016, California witnessed 867 pedestrians and 147 bicyclists killed, accounting for more than 28 percent of all traffic fatalities.

Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.