Red Light Cameras: Nuisance or Life Saver

Do those red light cameras irritate you?  Well, think about this: that camera may have saved your life.

A study released yesterday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, found that those red light cameras cut fatal crashes by 24 percent in the 14 U.S. cities that introduced red light cameras between 1996 and 2004.

This means over 100 lives have been saved in those forward thinking states monitoring intersections to reduce speed, fatal crashes, and other vehicle collisions.

These red light cameras are also a cheaper, safer alternative to officers enforcing red light running.  They conserve manpower and keep police officers where they are really needed: fighting crime.

This report will hopefully put things into perspective for those who have received tickets because of these lights.  The focus should shift from the driver’s inconvenience and expense to those who have been killed or injured by drivers who have run red lights.  These lights aren’t solely cash cows for government, they are life saving devices.  Especially since police reported that the majority of the people who died in fatal collisions - 64 percent - were not driving the vehicle that ran the light. They were passengers, other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. 

I can make that light.  We’ve all thought that before, but that’s the exact mindset that causes vehicle collisions.  Now, with red light cameras in place, drivers will think twice about running a yellow, which could avoid another vehicle fatality.

Sources:

King5

Washington Post