Chesterfield County police will be even more vigilant in their attempts to stop people from running red lights in the county, even though some residents say the traffic lights don't stay green long enough, which force them to run the red light.

Starting this month, officers will be conducting a series of operations in which they will monitor specific intersections throughout the county.

"It's been a consistent problem and we've been periodically doing red light enforcement every year," said Capt. Robert Skowron.

Officers issued 1,459 summonses last year to drivers who ran red lights. That's up more than 100 summonses from the 1,343 they issued in 2006.

Last year, the top five worst intersections for red-light running related crashes were:

w Chippenham Parkway and Hull Street with nine crashes;
w Midlothian Turnpike and Branchway Road with nine crashes;
w Midlothian Turnpike and Gateway Center Parkway with nine crashes;
w Hull Street and Courthouse Road with eight crashes; and
w Midlothian Turnpike and Alverser Drive with seven crashes.

Skowron attributed the increased crashes at those intersections to the heavy travel there.

"This certainly makes people aware of the problem," he said of their increased efforts. "People tend to drive better when that get that summons and those that see that tend to drive better."

Several people who've written to the Chesterfield Observer and Richmond.com, however, say the lights are so poorly timed that drivers have to run the red lights to get to where they need to go.

Skowron calls that "stupid."

"It's that mentally that gets people killed," he said.