Group counted Lexington drivers who ran red lights. Which intersections were the worst?
It was a slow Monday night inside Ethereal Brewery in downtown Lexington when Emma Curtis was deciding whether or not to throw her hat in the ring for a Lexington City Council seat.
She began talking with the bartender, whom she befriended in a LGTBQ+ walk-run group called Frontrunners Lexington, that encouraged Curtis to launch a campaign.
Curtis decided to make a go for the council seat and began knocking doors to get signatures. It was the following Thursday night when Curtis knocked on another friend’s door and was told the reason she had been stuck in traffic that night was because their friend, 33-year-old bartender Mia Ibrahim, was killed in a fatal pedestrian accident.
A driver struck Ibrahim with their vehicle at the intersection of Nicholasville Road and Rosemont Garden after running a red light while Ibrahim was in a crosswalk on December 15, 2023. The police investigation was closed with no charges filed against the driver.
Ibrahim was one of 20 Lexington pedestrians who died as a result of fatal crashes in 2023.
Friday would have been Ibrahim’s 34th birthday, but instead of celebrating their life, their friends were honoring Ibrahim by finishing a week-long initiative to count Lexington’s red light runners.
The initiative’s results
Last week, roughly 42 volunteers were stationed at 24 high-traffic intersections throughout Lexington from 7 to 9 a.m. to count the number of drivers who ran red lights. Volunteers represented 10 out of 12 Lexington council districts.
In addition to Frontrunners Lexington, who led last week’s effort, John’s Run/Walk Shop, West Sixth Running Club, Broomwagon and Lexington Week Without Driving were community partners who participated and promoted the count.
Kentucky statute requires drivers to come to a complete stop before entering an intersection when there is a red light, including when turning right on red. If a driver fails to come to a complete stop prior to entering the intersection when the light is red, the driver is breaking the law.
Curtis took one of the first volunteer shifts Monday morning, monitoring the intersection of Nicholasville and Reynolds roads. In the first hour, she recorded 148 red light runners — more than two per minute.
Only one was pulled over by a police officer, Curtis said.
“It’s a pervasive problem,” Curtis told the Herald-Leader. “We clearly have the ability to enforce these laws, but whether or not we have prioritized doing so or we have prioritized resources to emphasize that enforcement, we don’t have the information yet on that.”
Jason Schubert, the board chair for Frontrunners Lexington, also volunteered for the count on Nov. 18. In the first 30 minutes, he recorded one red light runner per minute.
Final numbers released Monday showed three intersections saw an average of more than 100 red light runners per hour during the count.
Five intersections surveyed saw an average of 50 to 99 red light runners per hour, and 16 intersections surveyed saw an average of 49 or fewer red light runners per hour.
Here were the intersections with the highest red light runners per hour, according to Frontrunners Lexington:
Alumni Drive and Man O’War Boulevard: 142 per hour
Nicholasville Road and Cooper Drive: 136 per hour
Leestown Road and Opportunity Way: 119 per hour
Nicholasville Road and Reynolds Road: 92 per hour
Leestown Road and Citation Boulevard: 64 per hour
What comes next?
Curtis was elected to represent District 4 in Fayette County in November. She said it is one thing to be elected and get a piece of paper or email with the statistics, but it’s another to see it happen for yourself.
“It’s galling,” she said. “I saw half-a-dozen people running red lights that had narrow misses. There were horns being honked where accidents almost occurred.”
Schubert, who also knew Ibrahim and helped organize the effort, said the results were “shocking,” but not surprising.
“This is a public safety issue that affects all residents — whether they are a pedestrian or a driver,” Schubert said. “We also acknowledge that solving this issue will take more than just our efforts. We plan to collaborate with local and state leaders to tackle this issue from all possible fronts.
“We are committed to continuing to put a spotlight on this issue, advocating for ways to change the behavior of drivers, and improving pedestrian safety in Lexington.”
Next steps at the local level include targeted funding for enforcement, better signage, adjusting streetlight traffic to improve traffic flow and continued support and education.
At the state level, Frontrunners Lexington and pedestrian safety advocates hope to enact changes to allow for automated enforcement in Kentucky including, red light cameras and speed cameras, as well as creating consequences for drivers who run a red light and cause a death or destruction of property.
This story was originally published November 26, 2024 at 11:21 AM.
