This is a red light. For almost 100 years, the entire world has understood this signal to mean one thing: STOP!

When automobile drivers, often distracted by a mobile phone, run through an intersection when the light is red, somebody is going to get hurt or killed. It is not the fault of anyone other than the law breaker who ran a red light.

About two months ago, several people were killed waiting for a bus at the corner of Victory and Kester. Some drunk or drugged out driver ran through a red light.

Every day in Los Angeles, I see cars speed through intersections after the red light is on. These include Woodman and Burbank, Oxnard and Hazeltine, Van Owen and Coldwater. Nobody stops them. Nobody is pulled over and ticketed. I haven’t seen a cop go after a red light runner since I was a boy living in Lincolnwood, IL in the 1970s.

People run red lights because they are allowed to do so without penalty. If they were ticketed $2,000.00 for a first offense, they might slow down and even stop at yellow and red lights.

There is nothing complicated about enforcing the law. We don’t need to spend countless hours debating traffic safety and whether the new Busway is unsafe. Just enforce the law.