Golden – Tiny blue lights that most motorists never notice tattle on those who breeze through red lights.
“The idea is to stop aggressive driving,” said Sgt. Dave Farley of Golden, where six “tattletale” lights were installed recently. “We put them in areas that have high accident rates and complaints.”
Arvada put up some of the lights five years ago, shortly after the devices appeared on the market, and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has some locations in mind.
The lights are also used in Maryland, California and Florida.
Placed on the back of or near traffic signals, the lights are not camera monitors or photo-enforcement or electronic-surveillance systems.
The devices, which cost about $175 each, are wired directly to the red light.
Officers wait down the street from the intersection on the side of the stoplight where they can watch the “tattletale” light as it changes in sync with the red light.
When the blue light turns on, the stoplight in that direction is red. Officers can tell which vehicles enter the intersection illegally.
Officers are on the side of the intersection where they can pull over the red-running drivers more safely than pursuing them through the intersection.
“They are coming right to us, so we can jump off and flag them over,” said Golden motorcycle officer Jeff Hesalroad.
Golden’s “tattletale” lights are tiny. In daylight, they are hard to see. But at night, “you can see them from a mile away,” Hesalroad said.
The six “tattletale” intersections in Golden are: along Colorado 93 at Washington Avenue, Iowa Drive and Golden Gate Canyon Road, and along West Sixth Avenue at Colorado 58, 19th Street and Jefferson County Parkway.
Farley said his officers have written “a lot more tickets” because of the lights, but Golden Municipal Judge Ron Miller said he hasn’t had a case come up yet that involved them.
Police took Miller out about a month ago to familiarize him with how the lights work “so I would have some knowledge of what they were talking about when these do come to court,” Miller said.
Under state law, running a red light is a 4-point violation.
“This is the application of another technology and is one factor that the court will consider,” Miller said.
Jefferson County has mounted test “tattletale” lights on northbound and southbound South Kipling Parkway at West Bowles Avenue.
The county’s devices are larger, dangle from the wires leading to the overhead stoplights and can be seen from all directions.
“There is no enforcement of the tattletale light at that location, although we continue to monitor the intersection due to the high number of accidents there,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Jacki Tallman said.
Once the system is tweaked, installations are planned for other intersections in unincorporated areas of the county.
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
