Bail Bonds number rose this month as the Newport Beach Police Department has had extra officers on patrol focused on Motorcycle safety throughout the city. The Newport Beach Police Department carried out technical Motorcycle Safety Enforcement Operations on Friday, January 16 and Friday January 23 that they call STEP (Special Traffic Enforcement and Crash Prevention) activities. The safety operation was funded by a grant given by the California Office of Traffic and Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The grant funded STEP activities included putting more police officers out on patrol targeting areas where recent traffic collisions have occurred and motorcycle hot-spots. The Newport Beach Police Department hopes the STEP activities will reduce the amount of future injuries in motorcycle related collisions. The program focused on education and enforcement targeting not just drivers but motorcyclists as well. The NBPD concentrated their efforts on the following offenses: DUI (Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs), driving on a revoked or suspended license, motorcycle license endorsement violations, and all other dangerous activities.
Even though there was a 50% reduction in fatal traffic collisions from 2013 to 2014, the Newport Beach Police Department wanted to let the city know that it’s dedicated to preventing traffic related deaths and injuries with programs like STEP. Successful results of the activities yielded a large number of arrests, raising the monthly average of Newport Beach bail bonds cases by more than double. Bail bonds can be utilized to avoid jail time when arrested on a suspected charge unless the charge is a capital crime. Bail bonds typically cost 10-15% of the entire bail amount set by the judge or magistrate (so if the bail amount was set to $100,000.00 in most cases a person would only have to pay about $10-15 thousand to get released from jail).
Let this be a reminder to everyone driving on the road to stay safe, alert, and aware of your surroundings especially when changing between lanes because motorcyclist can be harder to spot. If you are intoxicated there are services like Uber, Lyft, and taxis to get you home which are a much safer option and definitely more affordable than a citation or arrest. It is our responsibility to share the road safely if we are on two wheels or are on four.
There has been no official announcement from the Newport Beach police department on when they plan on initiating their next STEP program.