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Red-light Cameras Increase Collisions
#1
Red-light cameras increase collisions, study finds
march 18, 2008
toronto.ctv.ca

Red light cameras might stop people from rushing through an intersection but they certainly don't help people avoid accidents, says a study out of Florida.

The study, based partially on data from Toronto, found that motorists responded to red-light cameras in intersections by slamming on the breaks rather than barreling through traffic.

The results showed a significant increase in the number of fender-benders in those intersections.

Ten red-light cameras are currently rotating between 38 high-traffic intersections in Toronto.

According to the city's website, the cameras have resulted in a dramatic reduction in serious collisions.

"Collisions resulting in deaths and personal injuries were reduced by more than 25 per cent and those resulting in property damage were down almost 18 per cent as a result of the pilot project," reads the city's website.

"Taking a closer look at the City of Toronto locations, the number of angle collisions (those most indicative of red light running) causing death or personal injury were reduced by 48 per cent and the same type of collisions causing property damage were reduced by 26 per cent."

Although the study agreed with Toronto's data that red-light cameras do indeed save lives, it also found that in Toronto the number of collisions increased by 4 per cent. The study found that in six other Ontario cities where the cameras are used, the number of collisions increased by almost 20 per cent.

However, according to the Florida study, published in the March edition of the Florida Public Health Review, improved intersection design and engineering is a much more effective way of ensuring road safety.

"Even if red light cameras could be effective in the long run, which is debatable, they are associated with an added cost, consisting of fines, crashes and injuries that could have been avoided by using engineering solutions, which are effective in both the short term and the long run," the study says.

The paper recommended a number of ways to improve safety in intersections. Some of those recommendations are:

Conducting an engineering analysis of problem intersections
Adding a brief all-red light clearance interval to allow traffic in the intersection to clear prior to releasing cross traffic
Adding intersection warning signs or advanced yellow flashing to caution drivers to reduce their speed as they approach
The report also warned cities to be cautious before using data from the automobile insurance industry.

"Insurance financial goals are to increase their revenues and profits, which do not necessarily include reducing traffic crashes, injuries or fatalities," the report says.
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#2
No kidding.
My dad got rear ended at one last year.

You slam on your brakes to avoid a 100.00 ticket and end up getting 3500.00 in damage.
Sounds like a fair trade to me.

:rolleyes:
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#3
Quote:"Taking a closer look at the City of Toronto locations, the number of angle collisions (those most indicative of red light running) causing death or personal injury were reduced by 48 per cent and the same type of collisions causing property damage were reduced by 26 per cent."

and in Toronto, the number of collisions went up 4 percent.

I'll take my 4% increased chances of being bumped into for the 48% less chance of getting killed or injured, thank you very much.
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#4
Red light camera=revenue, plain and simple. If collision avoidance was the real goal, a few changes as mentioned in the artilce would do more to reduce collisions than fear of a ticket ($350 in Alberta). A combination of a flashing amber and solid green in addition to a one or two second all-red to clear the intersection would be much more effective. It just doesn't generate revenue so it won't be done.
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#5
I don't know if letting people know they have 2 seconds of Red before the opposing traffic starts moving is going to help the situation.

Problem is people are in a BIG hurry... the greenlight jumpers will take off when the opposite traffic turns red, and the redlight runners will count on those 2 extra seconds assuming that there aren't any greenlight jumpers.

The redlight cameras don't exactly make enough revenue to make it their sole purpose, and people will take whatever chances they know they can get away with to shave a couple seconds off their commute.
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#6
there was a report from the City of Saskatoon stating that the revenue from the red light cameras installed at Circle and Ave C made over a $1M in just over 3 months.
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#7
I'm not surprised at these findings...

Think about it, now instead of barreling through the intersection on a red (and if you enter an intersection on a stale yellow going to red, where the fsck did you get your drivers license? :rolleyes: ) you slam on your brakes, dollars to doughnuts the driver behind you hasn't anticipated that and POW!

I mean geez it's like saying that you get wet if you stand outside in the rain w/o an umbrella... flippin' obvious <_<

and I'd love to see the revenue that Toronto makes on those cameras...

NefCanuck
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#8
FocusGuy7476,Mar 18 2008, 04:13 PM Wrote:there was a report from the City of Saskatoon stating that the revenue from the red light cameras installed at Circle and Ave C made over a $1M in just over 3 months.
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you took the words right out of my mouth. and now i just avoid that intersection
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#9
faster_than_u,Mar 18 2008, 07:39 PM Wrote:
FocusGuy7476,Mar 18 2008, 04:13 PM Wrote:there was a report from the City of Saskatoon stating that the revenue from the red light cameras installed at Circle and Ave C made over a $1M in just over 3 months.
[right][snapback]260165[/snapback][/right]


you took the words right out of my mouth. and now i just avoid that intersection
[right][snapback]260173[/snapback][/right]

How the hell do you make $1 mill from a single redlight camera?!!! at $220/pop, that's 4,545 infractions :ph34r: which is over 22 times more than Ottawa's 4 cameras put together...

Ottawa, which has 4 redlight cameras made about $35,000 - minus their 1 million budget, means they've made a loss of about $965,000...
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#10
I can't see toronto making that much money on them are they eveb still working i drive by tons a day and hav't seen them flash for awhile
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#11
i guess you have never driven in saskatoon.
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#12
faster_than_u,Mar 19 2008, 01:20 PM Wrote:i guess you have never driven in saskatoon.
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every time I see a picture of saskatoon, all I see is open fields and empty roads -- never a car to be caught in the act of locomotion... so yeah, I'm stunned that over 4 thousand of them found a way to ignore a traffic light at one intersection.

I seriously don't think I'll ever drive to the 'toon now! :ph34r:
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#13
when your not used to something like a red light camera at the major intersection your going to a large number of incidents where people are running that red light. I can't find or have the time find the actual numbers so i can't say for certain but i do believe the numbers have been reduced since its been about 4 years since those cameras were installed in Saskatoon.

and driving in Saskatoon is not that bad, unless its changed since i lived there.
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#14
no its not that bad. you get used to it. everyone is just in a REALLY BIG hurry. and as always rush hours( thats right rush hours 4pm-6 pm) suck
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