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As part of his budget proposal, Governor Patrick slipped in a rider that would allow cities and towns to install red-light cameras at intersections and reap the benefits of additional ticket revenues. (Photo enforcement firms encouraged the Governor's move by giving him and the lawmakers $10,245 in campaign donations.)

At first glance Red Light Cameras may seem like a win/win situation: people run red lights all the time and the municipalities need all the financial help they can get. However there is one problem: a likelihood that RLCs will increase rear-end crashes.

There is no law in Massachusetts that says what to do when faced with a yellow. The only guidance is provided by the Registry's Driver Manual, which says "a steady yellow light means the traffic signal is changing from green to red. You must stop if it is safe to do so." This subjective split-second decision making process to most police means "you must stop no matter what," while most drivers lean towards "it's unsafe for me to do so."

However at a monitored intersection, the only way to avoid the sting is to make certain that you are nowhere near the camera's coverage zone when the light turns red. That means you can choose to either enter the intersection extremely fast in order to clear it, or stop even when it is both safe and legal just to avoid entering at all. Both of these actions are dangerous and contrary to basic driver's education which teaches us that sudden moves cause accidents. Acerbating this road conflict is the fact that red light cameras are a for-profit business. A few cities across America have been caught short-timing their yellow lights below legal levels in what may be an attempt to boost ticket revenues by giving drivers less time to stop.

Running a red light is illegal and there is a good reason for that. However motorists do not casually drive through red lights. Even the most flagrant of red-light violators will not drive blindly into a crowded intersection against the light. More likely they do not see a given traffic light because of distractions, impairment, or they are unfamiliar with their surroundings. Putting up cameras and taking pictures of them will not stop these kinds of accidents.

Any excessive rate of red-light violations is primarily the result of poorly designed, poorly maintained or improperly operated traffic lights. Simple engineering solutions, such as re-timing and synchronizing the lights, enlarging the lenses, improving lane markings, cutting back obstructions, adding sun shading to lights facing east and west etc, have been used to reduce the incidence of red light running at countless intersections nationwide.

"While on the surface these cameras may appear to increase public safety, recent studies have shown that they actually increase the occurrences of accidents at intersections where the public is aware that there is a camera," testified a State Representative before Maine became the 14th state to ban the use of RLCs. And just this past Election Day, red light cameras were defeated at the ballot boxes in Texas and in Ohio.

Already back in 2006, the Town of Swampscott, MA rejected red light cameras."Analysis of this data revealed that, over the four year period, there has been a combined total of 10-13 angle crashes caused by red light running," the report stated. "The limited number of angle crashes, combined with the likelihood that RLCs increase rear-end crashes, led the committee to conclude that the installation of RLCs is contra-indicated at all signalized intersections in Swampscott. Strictly on the basis of public safety, the committee recommends against the use of RLCs in Swampscott." And the report added, "the committee feels that utilizing the town's law enforcement powers to raise revenue is inappropriate."

Perhaps the best testament to properly engineered lights is at the end of Exit 18 off-ramp from the Mass. Pike to Cambridge. There is a short overpass over Soldiers Field Road where the traffic flow is one-way northbound during one part of the traffic cycle, and then one-way southbound during the next phase. You would think red light runners would crash into each other when the traffic flow switches directions hundreds of times a day. Yet that is not the case.

Properly timed traffic lights are the answer.

11/09

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