Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Officer Jennifer Nigh from the Palo Alto police department is one of many officers involved in a new program designed to nab drivers who disregard traffic lights.
Stoplight runners meet their matches
High-tech 'rat boxes' should help nab violators
By Sam Scott
The bold yellow signs added to the Homestead Road-De Anza Boulevard intersection at the border of Sunnyvale and Cupertino tell the story: Run a red light and risk a $281, motorcycle-delivered traffic ticket.
On March 27, representatives from Santa Clara County, California Highway Patrol, sheriff's deputies and city officials kicked off a campaign against drivers who run red lights. During the next five months, law enforcement agencies will target the five most dangerous intersections in the county, said Paul Gratz, project coordinator for Traffic Safe Communities Network, the agency coordinating the campaign.
Intersections targeted in the campaign include Mission College Boulevard at Great America Parkway, Capitol Expressway at Story Road, Bascom Avenue at Hamilton Avenue, Kiely Boulevard at Saratoga Avenue, and De Anza Boulevard at Homestead Road.
"We want to rebuild respect for the red-light," Gratz said. As the Silicon Valley cities have become more congested, red light running has increased, Gratz said.
Martin Fentersheib, M.D., a Santa Clara County Health officer, said red-light runners constitute as much of a public health threat as more traditional threats such as diseases. From 1994 to 1998, 6,800 injuries in the county resulted from drivers passing through intersections against the red light.
"Running a red light is the primary cause of vehicular accidents at intersections," he said. "It's totally preventable." Nineteen deaths resulted from injuries related to the traffic violations, he said.
"People don't think they are driving cars," said Randy Fullner, a Santa Clara resident who supports the effort. "They think they're driving plastic peddle cars."
Underscoring the seriousness with which officers are approaching the program, CHP Officer Steve Oreglia said offenders would be given tickets, not warnings, even in the early stages of the campaign. On Monday, groups of motorcycle cops waited at three corners of the Homestead Road-De Anza Boulevard intersection, pulling over multiple cars in a half-hour span. The citations formed a vivid background to the kickoff press conference held in a nearby parking lot.
Traffic police are aided by the presence of rat boxes at the targeted intersections. Rat boxes, so named because they "rat" on drivers, allow police to be away from the intersection and still know when the light turns red. The boxes, mounted on the back of traffic lights, illuminate when the signal cycles to red.
Previously, police would have to be on the driver's side of the intersection to determine if the light had been run. To make a stop, they also would have to run a red light, creating an even more dangerous situation.
Sunnyvale and Cupertino are leaders in installing rat boxes, Gratz said. Sunnyvale's intersection, in particular, is "saturated," he said.
Despite the advantages of the new devices, Gratz said he would be just as happy if drivers curtailed their violations without being ticketed.
"Hopefully, the signs will be more effective than the cops," he said.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
