Crosswalk patrols on Monroe today

Be on the lookout for pedestrians crossing the street north of the Monroe Street Bridge this afternoon: Spokane police plan an emphasis patrol to catch drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. Police remind drivers that most crosswalks in the city are not marked. Failure to yield could land drivers a $124 fine, said police spokeswoman Officer Teresa Fuller. State law requires drivers to stop at intersections and allow walkers or bicyclists to cross the roadway within a marked or unmarked crosswalk when the person crossing is “upon or within one lane of the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling or onto which it is turning.” That means all lanes of traffic heading in one direction, or the entire width of a one-way road. The Spokane Police Department logged an increase in complaints about drivers failing to yield, according to a police news release. In 2007, five of 10 people killed in crashes were pedestrians, police said.