In Case You Forgot: Red Means Stop

Spokane officials will launch a $15,500 campaign today to remind drivers that they’re supposed to stop at red lights.

Until the end of the summer, the message will scream from posters on walls, banners on overpasses, stickers on car windows, placards on buses and announcements on radio and television.

“Obviously, the focus is to educate the public not to run red lights,” said Peggy Hodges, coordinator for traffic safety programs in Spokane County.

Every kid who’s ever played “red light, green light” knows red means stop, but the concept appears beyond many Spokane commuters.

Over the past two years, the city police traffic unit issued nearly 5,000 citations to people who zoomed through what authorities call a “steady red.”

That’s a red that was red before a driver enters an intersection.

Police estimate that “steady red” running causes nearly 10 percent of the traffic accidents in Spokane.

“We do have a lot of red-light running in this town,” traffic Sgt. Anthony Giannetto said. “Of course, there’s a lot of red-light running all over.”

That may be, but Spokane was one of only 32 cities and counties across the nation last year to receive federal money to design a program to fight red-light running.

Stricter enforcement of the law also is part of Spokane’s program, Giannetto said.

Extra patrols from the police, Sheriff’s Department and Washington State Patrol will sit at intersections watching for scofflaws during the summer, he said.

They’ll be handing out $66 reminders to those who don’t get the red-means-stop message printed on the banners and placards.

The Spokane County Traffic Safety Commission will conduct a before-and-after study to see if the campaign was effective, Hodges said.

, DataTimes