The next time you see a pedestrian crossing the street in front of your oncoming car, it would be wise to stop.

The Coos Bay Police Department has received a grant of $4,000 from the Oregon Department of Transportation to fund pedestrian safety operations. In these operations, police will have a pedestrian decoy cross the street in front of oncoming cars at designated crosswalks. A police officer then will stop vehicles observed violating Oregon's pedestrian safety laws.

“We're not out on a ticket-writing campaign,” said Officer Ken Labrousse, one of the two Coos Bay Police officers who will be conducting the pedestrian safety operations. “We're not having decoys jump out directly in front of cars and then writing tickets when cars don't react in time. We'll give vehicles a lot of room to stop. And the decoys will be wearing brightly colored clothing. We don't want them getting hit.”

When conducting operations, Labrousse said, a marker would be set up a pre-determined distance from crosswalks, which exist at every intersection, whether the crosswalk is marked on the pavement or not. When a vehicle reaches the marker, the decoy will start crossing the street. The marker's placement takes into account the speed zone of the street to allow the oncoming vehicle an acceptable amount of time to react and stop for the pedestrian. In a 25-mph speed zone, for example, vehicles will be given 161 feet to stop for a pedestrian crossing the street. A police motorcycle or patrol car will be parked nearby, said Labrousse, to “ticket especially flagrant violations” of pedestrian safety laws.

Under Oregon law, drivers are required to stop and stay stopped until a pedestrian at a crosswalk has crossed not only the driver's lane but also the adjacent lane before the driver may proceed. However, when the driver is turning at an intersection that has a traffic signal, the driver may proceed when a crossing pedestrian has walked at least 6 feet into the adjacent lane.

Coos Bay Police plan to conduct five decoy operations in different locations and at different times. According to Labrousse, operations are tentatively set to begin on May 10, and may last until September. The locations of these operations have not yet been determined, though Labrousse said he intends to disclose the locations to the press before beginning operations.

According to the Oregon Department of Transportation, last year, 50 pedestrians were killed in traffic mishaps in Oregon, an 11-percent increase from 2004. As recently as Jan. 30, two pedestrians were hit by a car and injured on the corner of Newmark Avenue and North Ackerman Street. While Labrousse said he cannot recall any pedestrian traffic deaths in Coos Bay in recent years, he said area drivers still need a reminder of pedestrian safety laws.

“I wouldn't say pedestrian safety is a huge area of concern in the area,” said Labrousse. “However, we have received many calls complaining that local drivers won't stop for crossing pedestrians, who then have to jump out of the way.”

Twenty-six law enforcement agencies across Oregon, including Coos Bay Police, received grants this year to aid enforcement of pedestrian safety laws from the ODOT. The grants are administered by the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition from federal transportation safety funds.