St. Paul police are stepping up enforcement of the city’s crosswalk laws in an effort to make the streets safer for pedestrians.

For drivers, the fine is $100 for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

“We’re looking at areas of the city where pedestrian-car crashes are most likely to happen,” police department spokesman Steve Linders said.

“Right now, we’re focused on Grand Avenue. We’re watching the intersections and stopping automobiles that fail to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.”

Officers aren’t handing out tickets yet. Instead, they are giving each offender a card that has safe-driving tips provided by the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s “Share the Road” campaign. On the reverse side, the card offers tips for safely crossing the street as a pedestrian and emphasizing that safety is a “two-way street.”

A second card covers bicycle traffic safety.

Four Ramsey County law enforcement agencies kicked off the program last week. During a five-hour period Friday, officers stopped 56 vehicles for failing to yield to pedestrians on Grand Avenue.

They also handed out 82 cards to pedestrians, including 15 who could have been ticketed for crossing the street illegally.

The education campaign is coordinated by the Ramsey County Traffic Safety Initiative, which received a $25,000 grant through the Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths initiative. TZD, a joint project of the state departments of Transportation, Health and Public Safety, supports efforts to reduce traffic fatalities. The grant money for this project was drawn from federal funds.

From 2009 to 2013 — the most recent data available — motor vehicles struck and killed 18 pedestrians in St. Paul, according to the Department of Public Safety.

Besides Grand Avenue, other traffic safety hot spots will be targeted in coming weeks, Linders said. Among them is White Bear Avenue, which also has a high number of traffic accidents involving pedestrians.

Officers will begin issuing tickets in April, and the increased enforcement will continue through summer.

Under Minnesota state law, every intersection is considered a crosswalk — regardless of whether it is marked as such. Failing to yield to a pedestrian crossing at an intersection is a misdemeanor; failing to do so twice in one year is a gross misdemeanor.

The fine increases to $250 for failing to yield to schoolchildren.

For their part, pedestrians must make their intentions known before crossing the street and must not suddenly run into traffic. Pedestrians also must yield to oncoming vehicles if they are crossing the street in the middle of the block.

This isn’t the first effort to make St. Paul’s crosswalks safer. Various neighborhood organizations have installed canisters of orange flags, which are meant to be carried by pedestrians as they cross the street, at several intersections around the city.

Nick Woltman can be reached at 651-228-5189. Follow him on Twitter at @nickwoltman.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly reported the source of the funding for the Ramsey County Traffic Safety Initiative.