On Friday, the Chicago Tribune released the results of a study it commissioned on injury crashes and red light cameras, revealing that while right angle crash incidents have been reduced, rear-end crashes that resulted in injuries went up 22 percent. The results of the study throw cold water on the booster efforts of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration and raise questions about the use of red light cameras as a whole. […]
On a more granular level, the researchers found that there were no safety benefits from cameras that are installed at intersections where there have already been few crashes with injuries, and occasionally, there was evidence that red light cameras actually increased injury crashes at such intersections. “When intersections experiencing fewer than 4 injury crashes per year are considered, there is a significant increase in all crashes by 19 percent after the installation of RLCs,” the Tribune study found.
That sounds reasonable to me. If the threat of a substantial automatic fine is hanging over your head if you blow a red light, that gives you an incentive to nail the brakes hard on a yellow, rather than blow through the intersection. Which means that the driver behind you, if inattentive, is going to be smacking into the rear end of your vehicle.
There is no question that red light cameras and photo radar are being used mainly as revenue-raising tools. Often, you will see the traffic authorities messing with light timing after the red light cameras are installed, by making the yellow light shorter, so as to artificially increase “infractions”.
That’s one reason why I won’t belong to AMA. They support photo radar and red light cameras.
Demonstrating once again that people are basically innumerate, and you can lie with statistics.
“When intersections experiencing fewer than 4 injury crashes per year are considered, there is a significant increase in all crashes by 19 percent after the installation of RLCs,” the Tribune study found.
So those intersections went from four injury crashes a year to five. That’s a sample size too low to draw any conclusions.
One thing I’ve learned from the Canadian conservative blogosphere is that we’re all rah-rah law-and-order right up until someone insists we actually obey traffic laws, and then we all bitch like a San Francisco liberal.
tee-hee too true Daniel.
RLC at TransCanada (16 Ave) & 10 ST NW by SAIT in Calgary is good example.
I got nabbed there, but now watch speed thru all intersections.
Its safety first & no I don’t drive a Volvo!
I doubt you’ve learned much at all. A Conservative upholds and follows laws when they are just and fair. There is no secret here that red light cameras are a tax grab. Just like Justin’s carbon tax will be. Liberals, pull them off the teat and the squealing starts. Whatever you do, don’t stop their gravy train. Now, how did that feel?
Did the study look at manipulation of the light timing at the RLC intersections? Lots of stories out there about reduced yellow-light time that increases RLC revenue, and at the same time increases hard braking by drivers who suddenly see that very-short yellow light activate.
Your statistically illiterate statement would be correct if they had only studied one intersection. Obviously they studied several, and found a overall 20% increase. Yes sometimes you can play with statistics, but if the total sample size is large enough, that difference would be significant.
Best one I ever saw – A woman in front of me jammed the brakes on when the light turned yellow just as she was at about the cross walk. She burned rubber, almost lost control, and came to a halt astride the lanes of traffic that were about to start. She realized she was in the middle of it, and made a right turn instead of going through. By now of course the light had been red for several seconds, so no doubt she did get a ticket.
”That program needs to be stopped. It needs to be frozen to give us time to re-evaluate everything,” Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale, 9th, chairman of the council Transportation Committee, told the Tribune. “This is just more proof that this entire program is strictly to generate revenue and always has been.”
It’s a shame such cynics run for political Office! But that is generally the reason De Gummint does anything and the public be damned.
The biggest problem is how to sell the idea to the sheeple.
Btw,I don’t think most of these cameras here actually work.
Funny, yesterday the LeftsPhere was bleating on about the “fact” that the new Tory commercials about pot weren’t based on science, i.e., “more research is required”, etc.
Here, they see something based on science (yes, counting is science) and they don’t believe it because…well, consistency isn’t their strong suit.
Very good point DaveK.
Here in Kelowna, BC yellow lights are very unpredictable. Sometimes they are too short to be safe, and because they are so short they force drivers to gun it or slam on the breaks.
We have those darned things all throughout the Nations capital and they do absolutely nothing for safety. All they accomplish is provide a rediculous revenue flow so communist mayors like Jimbo Watson can burn through like a fire in the Rain-Forest. Try having an argument with one of these communist stating that and they walk away because they have no facts or stats to back up their idiotic claims.
the same problem cropped up in flordia. it was found that some areas were shorting the caution light and people were jamming on their brakes so fast that those behind did not have time to react safely.
Stupid is what stupid does
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/spectacular-lamborghini-crash-caught-dash-143954293.html
Distracted drivers are a much bigger problem than traffic light cameras.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/more-200-000-tickets-issued-150000048.html
Red Light Cameras to record liberals being liberals STUPID that is
I live in Kelowna,too,and I don’t think those cameras are working.
Winnipeg has those red light cameras too, along with the mobile photo radar units that are contracted by the city. In addition, speed limit signs have been discretely removed. Where it was 60, it is now 50…
Cash grab..
They were challenged here since they couldn’t prove who was driving the vehicle. People getting tickets when their stolen vehicle ran a red light, rental cars… was at the state supreme court this year and I don’t know how it turned out.
So the solution is obvious – take out the cameras, make the green light and yellow light each 15 seconds and the red 30.
Utopia. No more intersection collisions.
or better yet – take out the cameras, and only have yellow and red lights … each 30 seconds.
I would prefer if more drivers were cited for tail-gating. If they used the 2 second rule they wouldn’t be rear-ending.
Maybe it’s from my experience driving 18 wheelers that NEED a lotta real-estate to stop in a hurry and the grim necessity of not tailgating with a bike….
Most days I figure most drivers regard a speedometer as an IQ test, unwilling to proceed at less than the speed limit.