Technology can save you from red light runners

Red light runners are a menace. Can we please start using more cameras?

Red light runners are a menace. They have been for decades. But something happened nationwide in the post-COVID years that almost normalized this behavior. A mixture of scaled back enforcement, empty streets, and all-around aggressive driving have been a recipe for disaster. 

One question worth asking: is it worth making a fuss? How important is the rule that you shouldn’t drive through red lights. If you’re a parent, you probably don’t enforce “keep your feet off the coffee table” with the same energy as “keep your feet inside the car while I’m driving.” It turns out transportation safety researchers have had their eyes on red lights for a long time.

The AAA Foundation reports some startling findings in its Traffic Safety Culture Index:

76% of drivers said it is very or extremely dangerous to run red when they could've stopped safely, but 28% reported doing it anyway in the past 30 days.

In other words, “I know it’s dangerous but I do it anyway.” That sounds like a 14-year-old boy joyriding in a sports car, but it’s everyday Americans. 

Red light running crashes injured an average of 350 people and killed an average of 3 people per day in 2021. Half of the people killed were walking, riding bikes, or in other cars that were crushed by the red light runners. So yes, red light running is worth making a fuss. 

The reason running a red light is so dangerous (as opposed to simply obnoxious) is it risks a T-bone crash, where the aggressive driver slams into the side of another driver. That’s the type of crash most likely to send someone to the hospital or the morgue. 

A series of IIHS studies in different communities found that red light violations are reduced significantly with cameras. Institute studies in Oxnard, California, and Fairfax, Virginia, reported reductions in red light violation rates of about 40% after the introduction of red light safety cameras. In addition to the decrease in red light running at camera-equipped sites, the effect carried over to nearby signalized intersections not equipped with cameras. 

…cameras reduced the fatal red light running crash rate of large cities by 21% and the rate of all types of fatal crashes at signalized intersections by 14%. —Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 

In spite of this, red light cameras are unpopular. I’m sure you know why—Americans are in a hurry and they don’t want to get caught breaking the law. Almost 10 years ago, PBS was reporting on how cities were removing cameras because…reasons. In this 2016 article, they led off with “Red-light cameras are widely hated, but a new study says getting rid of them can have fatal consequences. 

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Funny, because just 5 years earlier, a study found that two-thirds of drivers in 14 big cities with longstanding red light camera programs supported those programs.

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Red light cameras saved 159 lives in 2004-08 in 14 of the biggest U.S. cities, a new analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows. Had cameras been operating during that period in all large cities, a total of 815 deaths would have been prevented.

Maybe people don’t care about the death toll until they’re personally involved in a crash caused by someone burning through red. Maybe it’s Car Brain, justifying antisocial behavior behind the wheel. Maybe it’s just flailing for excuses to justify getting rid of automated enforcement. 

Last week, I put this poll on X:

I have to admit, the results shocked me. 57% of 5,085 votes said either a police officer or a camera should be able to issue tickets for red light violators. I would’ve guessed 57% would say it has to be a human being, not a camera. It’s hardly a scientific study, but it gives me a glimmer of hope that safety cameras might get more support in 2024 than they did in 2016.

Maybe it’s a pendulum and people are realizing driver behavior isn’t improving, and technology solutions like intersection cameras aren’t so bad after all.