POST FALLS — Jon DeKeles was a brave man, repeatedly crossing busy Post Falls streets Thursday.

The Post Falls Police chaplain donned a bright blue Los Angeles Dodgers cap and plain clothes, playing the pedestrian's role during the department's crosswalk emphasis patrol. Its objective: To make drivers aware of pedestrians in crosswalks — sometimes, painfully aware.

"It could be dangerous," DeKeles said between his ventures crossing Poleline Avenue in front of Post Falls High, adding unlike most pedestrians, he was ready to jump out of the way if there was a close call.

"I had one situation in which the driver stopped just short of hitting me."

In another instance, one vehicle stopped for DeKeles as he was crossing Idaho Street but a second vehicle heading the same direction in the other lane whizzed on past the stopped car and DeKeles.

"It's been very eye-opening," he said. "A lot of people are either distracted or they just don't know the crosswalks are there."

When the emphasis was conducted on Poleline, traffic didn’t stop in several cases where DeKeles crossed or started to cross, despite a combination of crosswalk stripes on the road and bright yellow pedestrian crossing signs nearby.

In each case, keeping his own safety in mind first, DeKeles tried to note the behavior of the violators as they were approaching the intersections. He'd then relay to officers in patrol cars whether motorists were talking on the phone, texting or simply refusing to stop.

DeKeles crossed Poleline and Idaho 90 times on Thursday. Alleged violators totaled 23.

"Depending how you look at it, you could either say about a quarter of the drivers weren't paying attention or didn't care about the pedestrians, or three-quarters of the people were doing what they were supposed to be doing," Sgt. Dave Marshall said.

On Tuesday, DeKeles crossed four different intersections a total of 73 times, and 12 drivers were pulled over. The patrols took around nine hours total.

Drivers were either given a verbal warning or issued written warnings or citations, depending on the severity of the alleged violation. Marshall said fewer than 10 citations were issued during the two days.

The fine for not yielding to a pedestrian is $90.

"You can save yourself $90 by just paying attention," Marshall said.

At one point, when Officer Jason DeWitt and Chief Scot Haug were both pulling crosswalk violators over at the same time on Poleline, DeKeles had to log the license plate number of a third violator so officers could contact that driver later.

"We weren't trying to set people up; we were just trying to be a good representative of the pedestrian population and we wanted to leave the situation as natural as possible," Marshall said.

Haug said the main focus of the emphasis patrols was educating drivers, not writing tickets. He said the department posts the upcoming emphasis patrols on social media so there are no secrets that officers will be out.

He said drivers can easily be distracted, particularly on nice, sunny days.

But being at a crosswalk is also a two-way street, Haug said. While drivers are often the ones at fault at crosswalks because pedestrians have the right of way when they approach or are crossing the intersection, pedestrians also have the responsibility to pause as they approach the crosswalk, look both ways and not suddenly dart into the intersection.

"Drivers need to know that pedestrians are not predictable," Haug said.

Once a pedestrian passes the stopped vehicle in the intersection, the vehicle can then proceed and doesn't have to remain stopped until the pedestrian completely crosses.

If a pedestrian is not yet at the approach of the crosswalk, then the driver has the right of way.

Haug said the emphasis was partially driven by citizen complaints of inattentive driving. A young boy who was riding his bicycle was struck and killed by a driver in Post Falls earlier this year. That case is being investigated by the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office.

Street safety also came to the forefront at last week's City Council meeting when a resident who lives on Spencer Street expressed concerns that traffic has been driving too fast since it was punched through to Seltice Way earlier this year. Haug said an emphasis patrol would be assigned to that street.

At the same meeting, Post Falls resident Bob Flowers called for crosswalk signage on Seltice Way near Ace Hardware after he nearly hit a skateboarder.

"He's lucky that I saw him; something needs to happen there," Flowers told council members.

Haug said PFPD will hold more crosswalk emphasis patrols as soon as next week. He said one of the focus areas will be along Highway 41 between Central and Mullan Avenue, where there have been a lot of left-turn violations and accidents in recent years.