Lights, Cameras... Do red-light cameras curb the number of accidents? In Houston, the first of these cameras went live on September 1st, 2006. One week later, the Lone Star Times quoted (http://lonestartimes.com/2006/09/08/cameras-in-action) the Houston Chronicle:
As the Times sarcastically asks, "But remember, it’s all about 'safety,' right?" The article goes on to cite a study by the Federal Highway Administration in which statistics were collected from seven jurisdictions using red-light cameras. These jurisdictions did experience an average 23.2% reduction in right-angle crashes; however, they also experienced an average 17.4% increase in rear-end collisions. Three of the jurisdictions actually experienced a net increase in number of crashes. When factoring in the Washington DOT stated increase of rear-end collisions that occur with traffic lights in general, this is not a reduction in accidents but an overall increase when compared with the alternatives I will present later. In October 2005, the Washington Post reported (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/03/AR2005100301844.html) on the District of Columbia's red-light cameras. The Post's analysis showed an overall increase in the number of collisions at intersections with these cameras, an increase equal to or greater than collision increases at intersections without red-light cameras.
Considering that the cameras have "generated more than 500,000 violations and $32 million in fines over the past six years," it’s not surprising that this situation has been allowed to continue. The article quotes Lon Anderson of AAA: "They are making a heck of a lot of money, and they are picking the motorists' pockets on the pretense of safety." Looking at the statistics, it's hard to disagree. Can laws change physics? By their very nature, traffic lights do not and cannot constitute a physical barrier to speed. This results in the following two problems:
If Joe Leadfoot is running late for work, what can a law do to physically prevent him from passing through a red light? Every Problem Should Have a Solution So are there alternatives to traffic lights? The answer, according to the Insurance Journal and Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.12/traffic.html), is the roundabout: an intersection with a raised island at the center. Traffic is directed counterclockwise around the island; a car leaves the circle in the driver's desired direction. As stated in the article, the roundabout has been improved considerably in design, over a century's time, to adapt to the most complicated of intersections. The modern roundabout features a triangular island in each approach to the intersection, to help force cars to slow down as they enter the circle. The Insurance Journal reports the following:
Wired Magazine quotes Monderman (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.12/traffic.html) regarding a roundabout that he designed:
Propaganda The concept of the roundabout is more than a century old, yet in the United States, their use remains extremely limited. Why? According to the Insurance Journal:
However:
Obviously, such statistics were ignored in 2003 when the Texas legislature passed a bill allowing the use of red-light cameras. Instead of considering roundabouts and other genuine solutions, they instead predictably went for the much more attractive money-grubbing exploitation of allowing red-light camera installation despite the majority ruling against them. How did this happen? According to this source (http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/004653.html):
It appears that a very large majority of elected legislators were against the use of cameras. Do legislators ever actually read the list of whims they pass? |