Urban Car Accidents Likely Involve Red-Light Running

Motorists are more likely to be injured in urban car accidents involving red-light running than in other types of urban crashes. A 2009 Insurance Institute Study for Highway Safety found it was the cause of 22 percent of car accidents. And injuries occurred in 39 percent of crashes involving running a traffic control; this was the highest proportion of any crash type.

One way communities across the nation are addressing car accidents associated with red-light running is employing a Red-Light Running (RLR) Automated Enforcement Program. RLR programs have been installed in 24 states across this country. New York City has had an RLR program since 1993. And New Jersey established a five-year pilot program in 2008 for locations throughout New Jersey that have a car accidents and red- light running history.

Red-Light Cameras

Red-light cameras are connected to the traffic signal and to sensors that monitor traffic flow at the crosswalk or stop line. The system continuously monitors the traffic signal, and the right-light cameras are triggered by any vehicle entering the intersection above a preset minimum speed and following a specified time after the signal has turned red. Many red-light cameras provide motorists with grace periods of up to 1/2 second. Tickets typically are mailed to owners of violating vehicles, based on review of photographic evidence. Motorists in an intersection when the signal changes to red (waiting to turn left, for example) are not red-light runners.

Red-light cameras are used to supplement law enforcement in Albuquerque, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC, plus many smaller communities.

How often do drivers run red-lights?

The study noted above conducted during several months at five busy intersections in Fairfax, Virginia, before use of red-light cameras found that, on average, a motorist ran a red light every 20 minutes at each intersection. During peak travel times, red-light running was more frequent. Analysis of red light violation data from 19 intersections (without red light cameras) in four states found that 1,775 violations occurred more than 554 hours, for a violation rate of 3.2 per hour per intersection.

Motorists who did red-light running were more than three times as likely to have multiple speeding convictions on their driver records. No gender differences were found between violators and drivers who did not run red lights. A 2007 study in Sacramento, California, found about 30 percent of red light runners were less than 30 years old.

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