Left, Right, and Left again! (Even When in a Car?)

You hold on tight as the wheels spin you around in your little black car. It wasn't your fault but you can still see your life flash before your eyes. Observers view the crash from 3 yards away. Debris is flying from the black car; it is spinning out of control as smoke comes up from the hood. You blink a few times and realize you just witnessed a crash. It was all of the sudden. At least you weren't any closer or else you could have been hit. That is what we thought as we sat there in our car in front of the red light. The crash had been sudden but deadly. The car next to us ran the red light and ended up hitting the black car. It happened in a matter of seconds then it was all over. You could see the airbags go off and people get out of their car to help.

Accidents like this happens everyday. Each year nearly 1,000 deaths and 90,000 injuries happen because of running a red light in the nation. Between 1992 and 1998 red light crashes increased by 18%. According to the Federal Highway Administration, "96% of drivers fear being hit by a red light runner upon entering an intersection, yet 55.8% admits to running red lights.

After hearing the alarming news people usually start looking for a cure. They decided to post Red light cameras (RLC) at every intersection. This way they could take a picture of the car and get them a ticket for running the red light. They tested this camera in five different studies and found surprising results.

“The results of this study suggest that the installation of the RLC at these sites did not provide any reduction in accidents, rather there has been increases in rear end and adjacent approaches accidents.”

"After cameras were installed, rear-end crashes increased for the entire six-jurisdiction study area… After controlling for time and traffic volume at each intersection, rear-end crash rates increased by an average of 27% for the entire study area.”

“Exhibit 2 (after inserting cameras) indicates the red light running treatments have:

* Contributed to a 4.9% increase in fatal and injury rear-end collisions; and
* Contributed to a 49.9% increase in property damage only rear-end collisions.

With results like these, new ideas are still being formed. So, next time you go across the intersection go back to the old cross the road rule, "Look left, right, then left again."