Collier County Sheriff’s Office deputies were at the Florida Department of Corrections Probation Office in East Naples on July 7 distributing free bike helmets, bike light kits and reflective safety vests. Seventeen bicyclists were equipped with the safety gear during the visit.
The purpose of the “Be Safe, Be Seen” campaign is to equip bicyclists and pedestrians in East Naples and Immokalee with education and safety equipment that greatly decreases their chance of being injured or killed in a traffic crash.
Funding for the program was provided by a grant through the Florida Department of Transportation.
More “Be Safe, Be Seen” events are planned for throughout the year in Immokalee and East Naples, where bicycle and pedestrian safety has been a significant problem.
Eighty percent of the traffic fatalities involving bicyclists and pedestrians reported to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office in 2009 occurred in East Naples and Immokalee. There were five pedestrian/bicyclist traffic fatalities in the county last year, four of which were in East Naples and Immokalee, according to CCSO figures.
Of the 96 bicyclists and pedestrians who were injured in traffic crashes countywide in 2009, 42 were injured in Immokalee and East Naples, CCSO figures show.
Photo submitted by the Department of Corrections State Probation Office.
