Wrightsville Beach crosswalk crackdown gets mixed reaction

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (WWAY) — The red light at a crosswalk means stop. To drive that message home, a Wrightsville Beach police officer recently triggered the light at the intersection of Causeway and North Channel drives. Officers watched and pulled drivers who didn’t stop at the High Intensity Activated Crosswalk, or HAWK. It was a tactic some question.

“If the officer was standing, pressing the button without anybody trying to cross, then that certainly seems like entrapment cause there’d be no other reason to cross it,” a resident, Melanie Ellers, said.

While others understand why police did it.

“I watched the police out here a couple weeks ago. They had a police officer in uniform push the button. And people would wiz right on through it even once the light had turned red,” a resident, Colin Eagles, said.

Wrightsville Beach Police Chief Dan House said residents asked them to crack down on drivers who don’t adhere to the pedestrian crosswalks. Chief House said they pulled over almost a dozen people in one day, after residents asked them to enforce the crosswalks.

Those who live on the island think it’s okay to enforce the law like this, as long as it promotes safety.

“I cross the street here two or three times a day. I walk the loop everyday. I try to walk my dog a couple times a day over here. I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve had cars just shoot through the red light. The more the police want to work this, the happier I’m going to be about it,” Eagles said.

Chief House said this was a one time thing, unless they get more complaints.

For those unfamiliar with how the light works: press the button and that will activate the system. The traffic lights will turn red, signaling for drivers to stop. Then pedestrians can cross. Once the traffic light starts blinking, drivers may proceed if the road is clear.