Colonie

Police plan to stop and cite drivers and pedestrians who violate the rules on Central Avenue this week.

As part of an increased enforcement effort started this month, officers will be out in force from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, said Lt. Ken Pero, who oversees traffic enforcement for the town.

One area police are targeting is between the Colonie Center and Northway malls. The state Department of Transportation erected a high median with a fence to stop people from getting off a CDTA bus there and crossing mere feet from a signalized crosswalk.

Over the past two weeks, the police department has deployed extra personnel to cover Central Avenue and Wolf Road, said Sgt. Robert Donnelly.

"The officers have been busy, lots of violations," he said.

Central Avenue has been a repeated focus of attention due to the number of pedestrian fatalities. Last year, five people were killed on the 15.4-mile stretch of Route 5 from Albany through Colonie to Schenectady, where the road becomes State Street. So far this year, two pedestrians have died.

Police in Albany and Troy also are participating in an increased enforcement effort targeting both motorists and pedestrians, said DOT spokesman Bryan Viggiani.

"We see this as chance to equally educate both halves of this equation," he said.

The state will spend $110 million over the next five years in upstate New York and on Long Island to address pedestrian safety. The Central Avenue deaths, as well as the death of a 16-year-old girl crossing Route 787 in Cohoes prompted renewed attention to the dangers.

Last week, DOT, the Health Department and the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee launched television and radio advertisements under the theme "See! Be Seen!" The TV ad shows drivers engaging in a variety of bad behaviors — dancing and horsing around to loud music, putting on makeup and eating a falling-apart sandwich — before an earphone-wearing pedestrian staring at a smartphone steps off a curb on a Schenectady street and gets hit.

"This is the first of several PSAs," Viggiani said. "We are still in discussion of the messaging of the next PSA."

tobrien@timesunion.com • 518-454-5092 • @timobrientu