Do Traffic Light Cameras Cause More Accidents Than They Prevent?
Traffic light cameras, if you don’t already have them, are coming soon to a town near you. Their advocates claim that stoplight cameras catch red-light runners, deter them from their dangerous habit, and thereby save lives. It seems like a reasonable argument, but several research studies have blown that argument out of the water. The fact is, traffic light cameras actually make the roads less safe than they were before. Traffic Light Cameras Cause Rear-End Collisions Fear of being caught by a red-light camera leads many drivers to slam on their brakes as soon as the light changes from green to amber. That fear is understandable, because at many of the affected intersections the amber-light time has been deliberately reduced to increase the number of tickets that can be written. (No prize for guessing why!) Federal transport regulations require amber-light times to be in the region of 3.5 to 4 seconds – an inconvenient obstruction to revenue-generation that many municipalities choose t
