Lynbrook Police Department program urges pedestrian safety

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As a way to promote pedestrian safety and safer roadways, the Lynbrook Police Department is participating in the Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Mobilization program “Operation See, Be Seen” in the latter half of October.

“We have a lot more people walking around and we want to make sure everybody’s safe,” Lynbrook Police Department Sgt. Eric Bruen said, “and motorists who are travelling locally should be more mindful of pedestrians.”

The operation is sponsored by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, and will take place from Oct. 16 to 30. The first half will feature informational training, and the second half will involve enforcement.

Bruen said the plan is to send teams of police officers to heavily trafficked intersections in the village that many pedestrians frequent. Some of the officers will be in plain clothes, and they will pull over motorists who don’t follow the proper safety protocols to yield to pedestrians and keep the roads safe.

As part of the informational training, officers will provide motorists they pull over with pamphlets and other educational literature about pedestrian safety, and in the second half they will begin giving out summonses to those who violate safety protocols. Pedestrians who don’t use the crosswalks properly will also receive packets of information on pedestrian safety.

Bruen said the goal is to mobilize police teams at high traffic areas, such as Broadway and Sunrise Highway near the Lynbrook Long Island Rail Road station, on Merrick Road and Atlantic Avenue and at the intersection of Peninsula Boulevard and Hempstead Avenue.

“The overall goal would be to bring more attention to motorists and pedestrians on foot in crosswalks,” Bruen said, “and make sure you’re looking for pedestrians and if the pedestrian has the right of way, you yield to them. It’s mainly about educating the public.”