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File image courtesy of the LBPD. 

Long Beach police will conduct a pedestrian/bicycle safety operation today at Pacific Coast Highway and Orange Avenue until 2:00PM, they announced this week.

According to the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD), the safety operation is designed to educate and raise awareness of unsafe actions taken by pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists that can lead to serious injury or death.

Simultaneously, the LBPD will focus on finding unsafe driving that endangers pedestrians/bicyclists, as well as pedestrians/bicyclists who violate the law and place themselves in harm’s way.

According to the LBPD, pedestrian fatalities are rising in California as more people choose to use non-motorized methods of transportation. Locally, eight fatal collisions involving pedestrians have been investigated by the LBPD this year.

In 2013, 701 pedestrian deaths occurred in California, while nationally 4,735 pedestrians were killed.

A national study revealed that pedestrians and drivers do not obey laws and signals consistently, while many are often distracted by using their cell phones, texting and listening to music while walking or driving. According to the release, only 60 percent of pedestrians said they expected drivers to stop when they were in crosswalks, despite them having the right-of-way.