Houston motorists and bicyclists share at least one attribute: blame.

“​We get a lot of complaints from motorists and cyclists about the other group,” said Lt. Michelle Chavez, who heads up special operations for the Houston Police Department, including efforts to educate drivers and riders on safer streets.

With hundreds of thousands of drivers and thousands of cyclists, it can be an uphill battle to make sure everyone knows the rules of the road. Chavez, speaking to a state trails conference in Houston, said it’s difficult to determine if their efforts are making things safer.

“We believe if we keep at it, we’re going to impact those crash statistics,” she said.

This year, though, is not starting out in a promising fashion. After six bicyclist fatalities each in 2014 and 2015, four cyclists have died on Houston's streets less than three months into this year.

Deaths from all types of hit and run incidents also are on pace for a worse 2016, based on Houston and Harris County data. In the city, a dozen fatal hit and run incidents occurred in the first seven weeks of the year, compared to 25 for all of 2015 and 33 in 2014.

Of those 70 fatal incidents since 2013 – including motorists, vehicle passengers, pedestrians and bicyclists as victims – 20 led to criminal charges for failure to stop and render aid. Often, police are left with few details of the crash when the other party flees.

In unincorporated Harris County, the sheriff’s office reported 11 fatal hit and runs in 2014, nine in 2015 and one so far in 2016. Eight of those 21 incidents led to an arrest.

To address cyclist concerns, the city adopted a “safe passing” ordinance in May 2013 that requires most drivers to give cyclists three feet of space when passing – or else don’t pass. In the first 20 months after its enactment, however, police only wrote 11 citations.

Via stepped-up enforcement, notably last August, Chavez said officers have issued more warnings and citations. They also have ticketed bicyclists for infractions such as running stop signs and red lights. During the August 2015 blitz, police ticketed or cited 44 motorists for unsafe following or passing of bicyclists. The crackdown led to 108 tickets or warnings to cyclists, though the vast majority were warnings.

Police, however, cannot be everywhere or easily enforce a law based on safely passing cyclists, Chavez said. Educating the public about of the rules is more important than writing tickets, she said.

Rules regarding bicycles, however, can be confusing in Texas, which cyclists have long complained had inefficient rules that relegated them to second-class status. Erick Benz, president of Bike Austin, said state language that indicated cyclists had to ride on the right side of the road – combined with safe passing laws – sometimes sends a conflicting message.

“​The law encourages (drivers) to think they can pass,” Benz said Friday during a discussion of Houston’s safety efforts.

On lanes less than 14 feet wide, cyclists can ride in the middle. On roads with two lanes, that means traffic should pass in the other lane, not clip by the cyclist. On narrow, one-lane roads, Benz said, sometimes cars simply should not pass.

Cyclists make that safety decision on their own, said Monica Marsh, a Houston policewoman, who bicycles for recreation and as an officer.

“If people are passing too close, I don’t feel comfortable with that,” Marsh said. “​If it is two lanes I am taking up the whole lane and they can pass in the other lane.”

Chavez said more than 900 of the 5,300 police in Houston are trained as bicycle officers, though far fewer ride a bicycle on patrol on a regular basis.