Until the end of September, additional police will be watching for motorists, bicyclists, pedestrians and others about safety on the roadway and sidewalks.

Jovi Anderson with the Bend Metropolitan Planning Organization says they received about a $10,000 grant from ODOT to educate people, as well an enforce laws regarding pedestrians, bikers and what "walking zones" are for.  "Motorists failure to yield to pedestrians, awareness of all surroundings for all road users such as distracted driving.  Wrong way riding or biking without any lights at night. So those kinds of things we've seen. Lots of crashes, that have resulted from those behaviors so we're trying to target those behaviors and reduce our injuries on bend roadways." 

Anderson says they kicked off the outreach by placing decals in downtown Bend indicating the sidewalks are "walk zones" and bikes, skateboards and scooters should not be ridden there.

Additionally, Anderson says they have funds to pay overtime for police to enforce laws regarding motorists and pedestrians.