Spokane Takes Fast Track To Break Drivers’ Bad Habits

The orange cones look funny in the street, like dunce caps borrowed from an old-time school house. But when drivers see those orange cones near school crosswalks, they slow down.

Drivers use caution at school crosswalks because they don’t want tickets. And they want to be good citizens and protect children. The orange cones (or the flashing yellow lights in some crosswalks) set this thinking mechanism in motion: Better pay attention. Precious lives are at stake here.

In Spokane right now there is another mindset, one that has cost lives, heartache and hassle. A driver sees a yellow light and thinks: It’s yellow. Better step on it. That yellow light turns red and the car barrels through. Sometimes, the car makes it safely across. Sometimes, no.

The city of Spokane is considering installing automatic cameras at some intersections to catch, and prosecute, red-light runners. The plan would cost taxpayers nothing, because the private companies who own these “photo-red” systems get a share of the fines levied against red-light runners.

This system will not catch - or stop - all the violators. If 20 cameras had been trained on James Barstad, it wouldn’t have made one iota of difference. He was angry; he appeared drunk. He was on a collision course with disaster when he sped through the light at Mission and Hamilton last month and killed two people.

But the photo-red system would catch drivers with bad habits, drivers who are temporarily careless and drivers who feel in competition with yellow lights.

Snap. They would be on film, then fined. Chances are they would be more careful next time. They might tell five people: “I got caught on film running a red light.” And those five people would be more careful next time, too. The mindset might slowly change in Spokane. It’s yellow. Better slow down.

The system is a bit Big Brotherish, yes. But sometimes Big Brother works for the greater good. Red-light running is a problem so prevalent in Spokane, it’s almost a joke. A joke until that red-light runner wrecks your car, kills your loved one.

Save lives. Install the photo-red cameras. The sooner the better.

, DataTimes MEMO: For opposing view, see “Picture this: Photo-red looks like dead-end idea”

The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN, EDITORIAL - From both sides CREDIT = Rebecca Nappi/For the editorial board