The Chapel Hill Police Department will increase pedestrian safety enforcement operations — in addition to normal patrols — as students return to UNC and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, according to an announcement from the Town of Chapel Hill.
The CHPD will patrol non-school zone areas with heavy pedestrian and bicycle traffic, including downtown Chapel Hill and crosswalks on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Estes Drive, among others.
The CHPD also announced additional speed enforcement operations with their normal patrols to increase road safety.
"We encourage everyone traveling, regardless of your mode of transportation, to remember that community safety is a shared responsibility," the Town said in the announcement.
This increased enforcement of pedestrian safety comes after recent accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists in Chapel Hill. A cyclist who was in a crash on Franklin Street later died from his injuries, and a December crash on Estes Drive left two middle school students seriously injured.
In October 2021, the Chapel Hill Town Council adopted their Vision Zero Resolution to work to eliminate traffic injuries and deaths by 2031. The resolution stated that traffic injuries and deaths are preventable crashes rather than inevitable accidents.
Pedestrian safety enforcement operations are planned for the following dates:
- Saturday, Aug. 6, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Saturday, Aug. 13, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Saturday, Aug. 20, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Tuesday, Aug. 23, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
- Saturday, Aug. 27, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Pedestrian safety enforcement in CHCCS school zones is planned for the following dates:
