KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In Prairie Village, there were about 500 crashes in 2017. This year the Kansas suburb is hoping to reduce that number.
Sgt. Eric McCullough of Prairie Village said running a red light or a stop sign is one of the most dangerous things you can do while driving.
"More of our injury accidents come from red light violation accidents," said McCullough.
One thing put in place to help that are confirmation lights.
This light turns blue when a light turns red, to alert officers. Now they can sit on whichever side of the intersection is safest.
On Wednesday, that helped officer Mark Brown do his job. He wrote a driver a ticket for illegally turning right on a red light.
"When they see a violation and have to go through a red light after a violator, it's unsafe for them and for everyone else," said McCullough.
The lights are at 75th and Mission and 75th and Roe.
"I think it's great. anything trying to keep people safe is the best thing to do," said driver Alyce Walters.
The lights were just installed in November, but 75th and Mission saw one fewer crash in 2017 than in 2016. 75th and Roe saw two fewer crashes in 2017 than in 2016.
There are eight blue lights at each intersection. Kansas City Power and Light installed them and they only cost $150 each.
Walters said she hopes this reduces the number of red light violations and accidents.
"I have children, two small children. So safety on the road is very important," said Walters.
Police said other cities like Overland Park and Lenexa are using the lights as well.
