You paid for it: North St. Louis County Police Department wants red light protection

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — North St. Louis County mayors and police officers are urging the county government to take action to make intersections safer for emergency vehicles and citizens.

FOX 2 asked if St. Louis City and County would follow St. Charles’ example. It is a traffic system that keeps the lights red for everyone except emergency vehicles such as police, ambulances and fire engines coming through the intersection.

“We just want St. Louis County to show up at these intersections for the safety of our residents and the safety of all travelers,” said Vinita Park Mayor James McGee. “They find money for everything else, but what does a life cost? Life is so important we can’t bet a dollar on a life. Look what happened at one of those intersections, the whole family was killed.”

“This is important because we need to be concerned about the safety of our officers when responding to 911 calls,” said John Buchanan, North County Police Co-operative Chief. “We want to make sure they get through this intersection safely.”

“As it stands at the moment we depend on people hearing our vehicles and seeing our vehicles and that won’t always be the case with people’s attention spans now being on their phones and people listening to the radio. There are a million different things that can prevent them from hearing or seeing us,” said Captain Michael Lange.

You Paid For It first covered this story when it was introduced to St. Charles County by County Executive Steve Ehlmann. This system is ready to go online.

As a result, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen voted to grant provisional approval for an emergency vehicle crossing measure. It is awaiting final approval. The effort, which started strong in St. Louis County, faltered. The group said it was time to revive it.

“For the safety of officers in pursuit or when going through a traffic light, I think this technology should have been deployed a long time ago,” said Pagedale Mayor EG Shields.

https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/you-paid-for-it-north-st-louis-county-police-leaders-want-red-light-protections/ You paid for it: North St. Louis County Police Department wants red light protection