Collier County Sheriff’s Office deputies distributed free bicycle helmets, light kits and reflective safety vests during a “Be Safe, Be Seen” event in East Naples on Sept. 8. Nearly 100 bicyclists were equipped with the safety gear at Gulfgate Plaza at the intersection of U.S. 41 East and Bayshore Drive.
The purpose of CCSO’s “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.
Photos by Connie Ledbetter/CCSO (2)
