The Los Angeles Police Department is stepping up its motorcycle safety enforcement. Two or three times each month, the LAPD will dispatch additional officers to patrol areas of the city where motorcycle accidents frequently occur, said traffic grant coordinator Officer Don Inman.

Topanga Canyon, Pacific Coast Highway, Crenshaw Boulevard and the San Fernando Valley are among the areas that will be patrolled more vigorously for traffic violations made not only by motorcyclists but by drivers of other vehicles who make unsafe lane changes and turns that put motorcyclists at risk.

"The sole purpose of these details is to look for motorcycle violations or motorists doing unsafe things in front of motorcycles," Inman said of the increased patrols that will be conducted by motorcycle officers in eight-hour stints. "We're not just going after motorcyclists. We're trying to protect their lives."

The city is responding to statistics from the California Office of Traffic Safety, which found that state motorcycle fatalities have increased 91% from 2000 to 2008. In L.A. County, motorcycle traffic collisions have increased 62% from 2004 to 2008.

The LAPD's increased motorcycle safety enforcement is funded with a $100,000 grant from the state Office of Traffic Safety and will run through Sept. 30, 2010.