Posted on 03/12/2008 6:42:23 PM PDT by blam
Red-light Cameras Increase Crashes, Florida Researchers Find
Rather than improving motorist safety, red-light cameras significantly increase crashes researchers at the University of South Florida College of Public Health conclude. (Credit: iStockphoto/Sue Smith)
ScienceDaily (Mar. 12, 2008) — Rather than improving motorist safety, red-light cameras significantly increase crashes and are a ticket to higher auto insurance premiums, researchers at the University of South Florida College of Public Health conclude. The effective remedy to red-light running uses engineering solutions to improve intersection safety, which is particularly important to Florida’s elderly drivers, the researchers recommend.
“The rigorous studies clearly show red-light cameras don’t work,” said lead author Barbara Langland-Orban, professor and chair of health policy and management at the USF College of Public Health.
“Instead, they increase crashes and injuries as drivers attempt to abruptly stop at camera intersections. If used in Florida, cameras could potentially create even worse outcomes due to the state’s high percent of elderly who are more likely to be injured or killed when a crash occurs.”
Red-light cameras photograph violators who are then sent tickets in the mail. Hillsborough County Commissioners unanimously agreed earlier this month to install the cameras at several major intersections in the county. The devices could be adopted by more cities and counties if Florida legislators pave the way by changing a state law this spring.
The USF report highlights trends in red-light running in Florida, summarizes major studies, and analyzes the automobile insurance industry’s financial interest in cameras. Among the findings:
Traffic fatalities caused by red-light running are not increasing in Florida and account for less than 4 percent of the state’s yearly traffic deaths. In contrast, more than 22 percent of the state’s traffic fatalities occur at intersections for reasons other than red-light running. The injury rate from red-light running crashes has dropped by a third in less than a decade, indicating red-light running crashes have been continually declining in Florida without the use of cameras. Comprehensive studies from North Carolina, Virginia, and Ontario have all reported cameras are significantly associated with increases in crashes, as well as crashes involving injuries. The study by the Virginia Transportation Research Council also found that cameras were linked to increased crash costs. Some studies that conclude cameras reduced crashes or injuries contained major “research design flaws,” such as incomplete data or inadequate analyses, and were conducted by researchers with links to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The IIHS, funded by automobile insurance companies, is the leading advocate for red-light cameras. Insurers can profit from red-light cameras, since their revenues will increase when higher premiums are charged due to the crash and citation increase, the researchers say. Langland-Orban said the findings have been known for some time. She cites a 2001 paper by the Office of the Majority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives, reporting that red-light cameras are “a hidden tax levied on motorists.” The report concluded cameras are associated with increased crashes, the timings at yellow lights are often set too short to increase tickets for red-light running, and most research concluding cameras are effective was conducted by one researcher from the IIHS. Since then, studies independent of the automobile insurance industry continue to find cameras are associated with large increases in crashes.
Red-light running can be reduced by engineering improvements that address factors such as signal visibility and timings, wet roads and traffic flow, the USF researchers say.
The researchers suggest local governments follow the state’s lead in designing roads and improving intersections to accommodate elderly drivers, which would ultimately benefit all drivers.
The report " Red-Light Running Cameras: Would Crashes, Injuries and Automobile Insurance Rates Increase If They Are Used in Florida?" was published in March 2008 in the Florida Public Health Review, the online journal of the college and the Florida Public Health Association. Etienne Pracht, PhD, and John Large, PhD, were the other authors of the USF public policy report.
Adapted from materials provided by University of South Florida Health.
They probably could have saved themselves money in Florida by reading up on the studies conducted in Virginia, which showed similar results. Red-light cameras were in force for a year before the legislation expired.
I just got my citation in the mail yesterday for running a red light flanked by cameras. $100.
While visiting D.C. in a rental car I asked a local what are all those flashes I keep seeing. He replied that is you getting a speeding ticket. Anyhow the rental car company tried to bill me a few months later for some sort of stuff and I threw the bill away and have not heard from them since. I'll let the Judge throw Alamo in Jail!
I haven't got a ticket in years. So I don't know why DC should think I deserve so many for just a couple days. I already pay enough taxes! I'll let the suckers who live there support the traffic system. We hired a police officer out here one year and crime went way up, so we fired him and things are peaceful again. We just look out for ourselves and our neighbors.
I ran a red light the other day.
I was driving past a school on an unfamiliar road. Immediately prior to the intersection was a designated crossing for the school - designated by a huge crossbar festooned with blinking yellow lights hanging across the road.
I spotted this a couple hundred yards ahead, mentally classified it as a distraction and unconsciously filtered it out.
So when the traffic light behind and inline with it went yellow, that got filtered as part of the crossbar and I never saw it until it turned red - which with reaction and comprehension time was too late.
This dangerous situation would clearly have been prevented with a shorter yellow and an expensive camera. /sarc
Crashes through the intersection are reduced, rear enders immediately prior to the intersection greatly increased.
We have had red light cameras here for some years. Within a couple weeks, you learned to approach those intersections with genuine caution - not for the camera, but for the idiot in front of you panic braking at the first flash of yellow.
Of course nothing has changed; the county doesn't care about a few rear enders so long as their cut of the checks keeps coming in.
This data is suspect to me. In Dallas,Tx the number of side impact accidents has dropped 70% in two years - where there are cameras. I think cameras are a great tool of law enforcement. We have no problem using aerial robots and spy satellites to catch terror suspects, why should we have a problem stopping red light runners with a camera?
Whether this is true or not (there are other studies that show the opposite), red light cameras are on their way in — not out. They bring in revenue.
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