BLAINE, Minn. -- A pilot program in Blaine is working to reduce the number of crashes at two busy intersections on Highway 65.
Recently installed blue lights are assisting police officers in catching drivers running red lights.
Tammy Heikkila lives one block away from Highway 65 and 105th Avenue in Blaine. She said it's not the safest stretch.
"Since I've moved here, traffic has quadrupled coming up and down this road," Heikkila said. "A lot of accidents."
She said she sees about two crashes a month there, and knows the dangers of drivers running red lights.
"I was hit, had an accident a couple blocks down, I had green arrow, she had the red light and she went right through it and I hit her."
Blaine police said they know it's a problem.
"I personally have been on several traffic crashes through here, and a lot of them are caused by people running red lights," Blaine detective Joe Sadler said.
They may have a solution.
The blue lights were recently installed at two intersections on Highway 65; one at 105th, another at Highway 10 as part of the pilot project.
"When the light turns red for a specific traffic direction, the blue light turns on, letting the officer know that the light is now red so that prevents us from having to sit up stream across the intersection and actually see a turn and we actually have the opportunity to sit downstream, so rather than crossing multiple lanes of traffic, we can pull right behind the offender vehicle and make a traffic stop," Sadler said.
He said it's a tool that will make police more effective in catching drivers, and could even decrease crashes.
"Depending on which traffic gets the green light next, it avoids us having to cross their movement and potentially avoiding a crash ourselves."
It's an idea learned from a safety conference last year. It's still in the early stages, but has room for expansion if statistics show it works.
"Anything they can do to help make everybody else safe is much better for everyone," Heikkila said.
"Hopefully they'll think twice about running that light."
Police said if the project is successful, state grants could pay for more lights on more intersections. Sadler said Burnsville, Ramsey County and Maplewood have also been using the blue lights in law enforcement.
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