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Davis Police Cracking Down On Bicyclists

DAVIS (CBS13) — Davis Police are trying to reduce the number of bicycle accidents in a city ranked as one of the worst in the state.

Davis has more bikes on the road than cars, and police are taking to the streets to put the brakes on bicyclists breaking the law.

"One of the conversations I had with a violator today was 'at what speed constitutes stop?' and it's simple—stop. There's no speed attached," said Davis Police Sgt. Rod Refredi.

He says the department gave out more than 20 citations in one hour on Wednesday to bicyclists breaking the rules.

"Failing to stop at a stop sign, riding with two earbuds in, riding on the wrong side of the road, running stop lights," he said.

According to the California Office of Traffic Safety, Davis is the third-worst city of its size for bike accidents, with 64 in 2012 compared to 15 in the much larger Sacramento.

Refredi says in the past, officers avoided issuing tickets because of a steep fine.

"A lot of officers were having problems giving out the violations because they are a $150, $200 fines," he said.

So when the city lowered the fines to a flat fee of $50, Davis saw an almost 20 percent drop in bicycle-related crashes in 2013.

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