DATE: Thursday, April 17, 1997              TAG: 9704170364

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   99 lines

WHO RUNS RED LIGHTS? A STUDY SHOWS THAT IN HAMPTON ROADS QUITE A FEW OF US DO. A LOCAL CAMPAIGN AIMS TO REDUCE THE NUMBER.

A preliminary study has spotlighted some Hampton Roads drivers' potentially deadly habit of running red lights.

Conservative estimates from the study suggest that at least six to seven drivers run a red light at any given intersection every hour in Hampton Roads. Virginia Beach drivers are by far the worst.

``The potential for the number of crashes that could occur (from this behavior) is just phenomenal,'' said Bryan E. Porter, an assistant psychology professor at Old Dominion University.

Porter is conducting a grant study, funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about intersection behaviors, including red-light running and whether awareness can change drivers' habits.

Porter and 15 of his students spent the month of March collecting data from two heavily traveled intersections with high accident rates in each of three cities - Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake.

They recorded what color was lit when the last vehicle passed through the intersection during a traffic light cycle.

Of the 3,400 vehicles recorded, 37 percent ran red lights and 40 percent went through on yellow. Only 23 percent of the last drivers to pass through an intersection did so on a green light.

Sixty-five percent of Beach drivers, 48 percent of Chesapeake drivers and 28 percent of Norfolk drivers ran red lights.

These numbers only reflect the patterns of the last vehicle through an intersection. However, there may have been several drivers who ran the red light ahead of that vehicle.

For every last vehicle through an intersection, Porter and his students also noted the driver's approximate age, race, gender, vehicle model and year, and seat-belt and turn-signal usages.

Using this information, Porter has devised a profile of the average red-light runner. The driver is in his or her late 20s to early 50s and doesn't wear a seat belt.

``It makes sense because someone who doesn't wear a seat belt is a risk-taker,'' said Porter. ``They're more likely to run red lights and speed.''

Gender seems to have no bearing on whether someone runs a light or not, Porter said. Men and women violated the law equally.

Porter and his students are using the figures they've amassed to start a multimedia campaign targeting their profiled red light runner. The campaign will also address other safety issues, like wearing seat belts and using child safety seats.

The commercials will begin airing on television and radio stations sometime this month.

``We want to bring the consequences of unsafe driving closer to the driver,'' Porter said.

The campaign will run through August, at which time all commercials will stop and Porter and his students will return to the same intersections to count violations again.

The purpose, Porter said, is to see if the commercials bring about awareness and how long that awareness lasts, even after the media blitz has stopped.

Porter has met with police departments and engineers in all three cities in the hope that they will contribute to his study by increasing enforcement, adding signs or doing whatever else is deemed necessary.

Specific actions by the agencies have not yet been determined.

``We're interested in Dr. Porter's project,'' said Gary Waldo, an assistant traffic engineer with Chesapeake. ``What we're trying to do now is to come up with what we can do as engineers to change drivers' behaviors.''

Waldo himself was a victim of a red-light runner about five years ago; his truck was struck in the middle of a Holland Road intersection, he said.

Although some drivers might suggest that changing signal timings to extend the yellow light phase will help curb the problem, engineers are hesitant to do that because drivers will still stretch it to the limit to clear the intersection, they say.

As it stands now, all traffic signals are timed to have a few seconds where motorists in all directions are seeing red to help clear the intersection.

For drivers Henry and Jean Welke, the numbers aren't necessary to convince them that red-light running is a problem. The Beach couple encounters the crime on a daily basis.

``We're just disgusted at the frequency,'' said Henry Welke. ``It occurs several times every day and it's just appalling.''

The couple has gone so far to devise their own safety measures at intersections. Though they may have the green to go, if they're first in line, they check to be sure the intersection has completely cleared before they proceed.

``I think I've prevented many accidents over the years by not moving when the light turns green,'' Jean Welke said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by BILL TIERNAN/ The Virginian-Pilot

Bryan E. Porter, an assistant psychology professor at Old Dominion

University, and 15 students conducted a study on red-light running.

They tracked traffic at intersections in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and

Chesapeake.

Graphic by The Virginian-Pilot

What's the Hurry

For complete copy, see microfilm KEYWORDS: RED LIGHT STUDY

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