RUNNING RED LIGHTS CAN BE DEADLY

Some alarming statistics regarding accidents involving drivers who run red lights recently came out of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The number of fatal crashes involving red-light running has increased 15 percent, from 702 in 1992 to 809 in 1996, and from 1992 through 1996, there were 3,753 crashes caused by a motorist running a red light. Those crashes killed 4,238 people and accounted for 3 percent of all fatal crashes.

Lacking from the statistics were the reasons drivers failed to stop at red lights. A lot of them probably thought they could make it through the intersection before the yellow warning signal went to red. Still others, for whatever reasons, likely ignored the red lights, thinking there was no approaching traffic.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater says its time to do something. He announced a nationwide campaign to educate drivers about the problem.

The rule is basic and one children learn long before they are even old enough to drive: Red means stop. A lot of lives would be spared if adult drivers would heed that rule.