Red-Light Cameras Save Lives

Survey sees drop in fatalities at intersections with cameras
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 1, 2011 4:07 PM CST
Red-Light Camera Save Lives
A red light camera setup is shown Wednesday Sept. 29, 2010 in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Red-light cameras make big money for cities, delivering more tickets at lower cost than human officers ever could. But the cameras also apparently save lives: a 5-year study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that intersections with such cameras had about 25% fewer fatalities, the Washington Post reports. "Our traffic fatalities have been cut in half in four years," said DC's police chief.

The study, along with anecdotal evidence from law enforcement, suggests that people drive slower because they know the camera is always watching. "We see less high-speed crashes, we see less crashes at what used to be the worst intersections," said the DC chief. "Because of speed enforcement, when people do crash, it's at a slower speed, so there are less likely to be fatalities."
(More red-light cameras stories.)

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