
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 16, 1995                   TAG: 9503160037
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STOP ON RED

PROOF THAT the nation has grown tougher on crime can be found in the Washington suburbs of Northern Virginia, where robocops are cracking down on motorists who zip through red lights.

Anyone looking for evidence of a leaner, meaner public demeanor need look no further.

Drivers in D.C. and its surrounding suburbs, trying madly to manage the commuter lifestyle under what The Washington Post describes as "annoying traffic conditions," have long navigated street intersections using these ground rules:

If the traffic light turns yellow after it's in view, floor the gas pedal, race through the intersection and don't look back - or to the right or left.

If the traffic light already is yellow when it comes into view, tailgate the vehicle immediately ahead and follow its lead. If that driver is gunning it, chances are good you will enter the intersection on a red, but before cross-traffic has gathered the courage to start across.

If the traffic light is red when it comes into view, slow enough to check the tags on the lead cars in the line of cross-traffic. If they're out-of-state, proceed with caution, prepared to lean on your horn to avoid a collision. Drivers unfamiliar with beltway culture can be unpredictable.

We exaggerate only slightly. Which is why Virginia legislators gave Northern Virginia localities the leeway to mount photo monitors at their busiest intersections. If a car enters after the light turns red, sensors trigger a camera that takes pictures of the car. The ticket (for $50) will be in the mail.

Critics cringe at the Big-Brotherism of it all, but perhaps the greater concern should be the potential for rear-end collisions among drivers whose timing has been thrown by an unaccustomed attention to detail. Still, stop lights - a price we pay for civilization - won't work in a colorblind society. A high-tech solution is worth a try when scofflaws have made the rules of the road a joke, and police are pinned down elsewhere fighting the drug wars.

Northern Virginia localities will get no state money for the program; the cameras are expected to pay their own way in fines. Which is only fair. Sedate taxpayers, who drive by the rules, shouldn't have to buy the traps to snare the scofflaws. And drivers in the rest of Virginia who use their own judgment at stoplights do so with less impunity. Chances are, they're going to pay.

by CNB