From now on, car crashes involving cyclists and pedestrians will get special attention from Portland Police investigators.

The police bureau has a new policy.

After several tragic collisions -- and with new authorization from state lawmakers-- Portland police are ready to probe car crashes involving bikes and pedestrians.

"Which means that we will have an investigator come out and if either side is responsible an investigation can potentially trigger citations. Either side may get it," explained Sgt. Brian Schmautz of the Portland Police Bureau.

If such a collision results in a trip to the hospital for anyone involved, police will consider writing a ticket for careless driving.

"We will apply the law fairly to all sides and we hope that people will understand this will lead to more citations."

Portland traffic collisions last year increased slightly with tragic consequences -- 34 fatal collisions resulted in 35 deaths.

Eleven of those were pedestrian deaths and six were cyclists.

"We're delighted with the police bureau's new policy," said Karl Rohde of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance.

He applauds the commitment to investigate such crashes because all too often, he says, collisions were going uninvestigated, resulting in difficulties for injured cyclists trying to get insurance help.

"You're lying in your hospital bed you feel like you've been traumatized but there's no investigation that's going to take place."

City Transportation Commissioner Sam Adams is pleased with the policy change. In fact, he's pushing for more.

"We still need more policy clarification such as we're going to enforce the state law that says cars cannot drive in bike lanes," Adams said.

For now, police predict more citations for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians will make those at fault more accountable, and make it safer to get from one place to another in Portland. This new policy goes both ways.

Wednesday night Portland police cited a 52-year-old cyclist for careless driving after he made an illegal pass and ran into a truck.