A goal of the Thousand Oaks Police Department is to reduce traffic collisions involving bicyclists. The number of bicycle accidents in the city has increased over the past several years. In many cases these accidents were caused by bicyclists riding against traffic or making unsafe turning movements.

In an attempt to curtail these incidents, the city has implemented sharrows—lane markings depicting bicyclists, with two chevron markings above them—on several of its most traveled streets. These sharrows are intended to reduce wrong-way bicycle riding and help alert motorists of bicycle traffic.

For two weeks, from Sun. July 26, the Traffic Bureau will contact bicyclists and educate them about current bicycle-related laws. They will also distribute fliers in both English and Spanish to inform the public about bicycle safety.

Beginning Aug. 7 the Traffic Bureau will begin actively enforcing all bicycle traffic laws within the city. The objective of the increased enforcement is to improve bicycle safety and reduce accidents.