ST. LOUIS — While riding over to interview the St. Louis City commissioner of traffic, 5 On Your Side saw a random driver pull right up, cross over the lane and run the red light. The whole thing was captured on video, and it seems to happen frequently - especially in the city.
What can the Street Department do about drivers who run red lights?
5 On Your Side viewers have reached out to express their concern about folks intentionally running through red lights these days. So, we asked Commissioner of Traffic Jamie Wilson if there is anything the Street Department can do about lawbreakers. He said their job is sequencing and maintenance; running red lights is a law enforcement matter.
“I tell my kids that are learning to drive, even though it says green … look both ways more than once," Wilson said.
How are the downtown lights sequenced?
“Traffic signals are coordinated for mainline phases," Wilson said. "So if you enter randomly into a corridor from a side street, you may encounter a stop where the coordination plans for the arterial set from one signal to the next and a predictable pattern. You enter into it more randomly than you would expect. You may get lucky one time, but you're going to end up at a stop at another but then you're at the signal where then the predictive flow occurs after that."
Both the city and St. Louis County use a system that handles sequencing called TACTICS. The traffic equipment is automated for different traffic flow periods.
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