We’re all familiar with traffic cam footage being used in local news highlights of rain-slicked roads or cars drifting through snowy intersections, but one of the country’s biggest suppliers of red light traffic cameras has been posting collections of crash clips on YouTube to show how dangerous running a red light can be.
“Each year more than 100,000 people are injured and hundreds are killed in red-light running related collisions,” reads the text at the beginning of one montage taken from various cameras in New Jersey. And after all the smashing, sliding, crashing and crunching is done, more text states, “Please, Stop on Red. The life you save may be your own.”
But while a rep for the company, American Traffic Solutions, tells NJ.com that cameras like the ones it produces “change driver behavior and help save lives,” a rep for the National Motorists Association points out that the videos don’t exactly demonstrate this behavior change: “Oh, so they’re showing how their red light system doesn’t stop crashes?”
Regardless, we know why you’ve read this far. To get to the video. So without further blah blah, here are a bunch of people in New Jersey crashing into each other:
N.J. intersection crashes are posted on YouTube by red light camera system provider [NJ.com]
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Most of the gotchas at the red light camera near me aren’t blatant red-light runners but people who slow down but don’t come to full complete stop before turning right on red.
Of the 2 auto accidents that I was involved in as a passenger, both involved the driver of the car I was riding in traveling through an intersection and colliding with the other car that was making a left turn coming from the opposite direction.
First accident involved the driver of the car I was in failing to heed my cries of “Louis, red light. Louis, red light! LOUIS, RED LIGHT! ***crash*** into the car making a “protected” left turn.
Second accident, involved a guy trying to run a red light to make a left turn. We were going slower than the speed limit but were towing so our stopping distance was increased due to extra weight. Our light had just turned green and we already had momentum albeit still traveling slowly (approx. 30 mph) while the guy running the light swerved around a car stopped at his red light, then made a wide left turn causing us to collide into his passenger side front fender and door. The guy tried to pry his fender off of his wheel so he could drive away (uninsured, we found out later).
This 2nd accident happened in 1992 when airbags were still a new thing. My ex (who was driving) was covered in bruises from the AIRBAG!. I thought the car was on fire from the smoke (just the airbag chemicals, I found out later). Our car sustained more than $5000 worth of damage. Almost the amount still owed on the car note.
In summary, intersections are DANGEROUS! Not sure how helpful/harmful red light cameras are.
the problem with red light cameras is that the vast majority of tickets issued (96-99% in Illinois where I’m from) are for right turns on red, which are vastly less likely to cause an accident. Sure, you shouldn’t do them, but they pale in comparison to running red lights outright. In the end, these are purely for revenue generation and there has been relatively little effect on actual driver behavior, especially since drivers know where the cameras are in most circumstances.
Big reason why I slowly enter an intersection and look both ways. Red light runners are asses and no enforcement will ever EVER prevent these jerks from thinking they can just go through and everyone will get out of their way.
The important point about the red light cameras is that they aren’t operated by law enforcement. They are privateers! That’s pirates in layman terms. The cameras do not prevent red light running to any statistically significant amount.
If hey want to claim that they provide video evidence of the offending party, they are right. But you don’t need a red light camera for that, any camera would do. Put a sign on it that says “Evidence Camera” and see if that doesn’t work just as well. As a mater of fact some cities already have traffic cameras at major intersections.