It's simple: Brake for red lights, stop signs

This editorial appears in the Jan. 6, 2010, edition of the Yakima Herald-Republic.

What's so difficult about heeding a stop sign or a stoplight? It should be automatic. Come to a complete stop at a red, octagonal stop sign, and when a stoplight goes from green to yellow, put your foot on the brakes. Simple enough.

But that's not happening these days in the Yakima Valley. At an alarming rate, motorists are blowing through stop signs and failing to see "caution" when a stoplight turns yellow. It's not only unlawful and infuriating, it's also deadly.

Last year, accidents on county roads claimed 18 lives with five occurring at intersections. Officials are puzzled by the numbers and are considering reinstituting a campaign to get drivers to pay attention and to refrain from drinking alcohol when they get behind the wheel. Alcohol turned out to be a determining factor in eight of the fatalities last year.

The county has had success in the past when attempting to prevent accidents at intersections. A decade ago, the county installed rumble strips at 19 troubled intersections to warn motorists who were approaching. Accident rates plummeted.

However, that success has faded over the years and accidents again have reached double-digit levels at those intersections. The reasons range from drivers being distracted with cell phones to those who simply ignore stop signs and speed limits.

In cities where motorists come upon stoplights, it's as if the color yellow has become a new shade of "green." It's rare to see drivers slow down when they approach an intersection after seeing the light turn yellow. Cars lurch ahead, speeding through the intersection even as the light turns to red. We've heard from law-abiding motorists who actually do heed the yellow caution light only to be hit from the rear by another motorist trying to speed through the intersection.

What have we become -- a community of scofflaws who have no regard for the rules of the road?

It's gotten so bad in some communities that cameras have been installed to catch motorists running red lights. On Tuesday, Bellevue, Wash., placed cameras at several busy intersections and next month will begin sending citations to motorists caught running a red light. The fine will be $124.

The city of Seattle put in place six cameras in 2006 and ticketed 58,000 drivers during the first three years. The citations brought in nearly $5 million in fines. Last summer, the city increased the number of cameras in use to 30.

We have long worried that these cameras will be used more as revenue-generators than as serious attempts to enhance public safety. In fact, several class-action lawsuits were filed last year against Seattle and some 20 other cities, claiming they had illegally entered into a profit-making scheme with the companies selling the cameras.

However, the time has come for some sort of added deterrent to curb the running of stoplights in cities and stop signs. We need to put a halt to this bad behavior now before running lights and stop signs result in a grim record of death and destruction.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Bob Crider, Spencer Hatton and Karen Troianello.