Intersection Collisions Increase

Ticket Cameras

Red-light cameras are touted as devices that increase intersection safety. However, information is surfacing that shows the inaccuracy of that belief.

The preponderance of independent research (in other words, research that was not funded by ticket camera vendors or units of government interested in justifying camera-based traffic enforcement) has illustrated that ticket cameras typically increase, not decrease, the number of accidents at controlled intersections.

The other source that is highlighting the increase in accidents is the media. Because so many studies are showing an increase in collisions at red-light camera intersections, various news outlets are conducting their own studies in this phenomenon. Below is a sampling of these reports.

Reports From The Media

Washington Post
This report showed an overall increase in accidents at red-light camera intersections of 107 percent.

KATU
KATU News reviewed city statistics and found a 140 percent increase in rear-end crashes at the intersections where red light cameras were installed.

The Coloradoan
Ft. Collins, Colorado has experienced an 83 percent increase in the number of accidents since red light cameras were installed.

North County Times
This report is showing a 800 percent increase in rear-end accidents

Philadelphia Weekly
This article showed an increase of 10 to 21 percent in accidents in intersections with red-light cameras.

Washington Post

Reprinted From The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/03/AR2005100301844.html

D.C. Red-Light Cameras Fail to Reduce Accidents
By Del Quentin Wilber and Derek Willis
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 4, 2005; A01

The District's red-light cameras have generated more than 500,000 violations and $32 million in fines over the past six years. City officials credit them with making busy roads safer.

But a Washington Post analysis of crash statistics shows that the number of accidents has gone up at intersections with the cameras. The increase is the same or worse than at traffic signals without the devices.

Three outside traffic specialists independently reviewed the data and said they were surprised by the results. Their conclusion: The cameras do not appear to be making any difference in preventing injuries or collisions.

"The data are very clear," said Dick Raub, a traffic consultant and a former senior researcher at Northwestern University's Center for Public Safety. "They are not performing any better than intersections without cameras."

The District started the camera program in 1999, and from the beginning, officials said they were aiming to curtail red-light running and accidents. At the time, Terrance W. Gainer, then the second-highest ranking D.C. police official, said the cameras would "get people to stop at red lights and avoid crashes. . . . Hopefully, we'll have a few less messes to clean up."

D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said he remains convinced that the devices are worthwhile. Even if the number of crashes is not going down, he said, citations for red-light running have dropped by about 60 percent at intersections that have cameras.

Ramsey said the number of accidents would be even higher without the cameras, adding that he would like to install them at every traffic light in the city. He pointed to last year's steep decrease in traffic fatalities -- 45 people died compared with 69 in 2003 -- as evidence that the program is working.

"I'd rather have them than not have them," Ramsey said. "They make people slow down. They reduce the number of traffic violations, and that's a good thing."

City officials attribute the increase in accidents to higher traffic volume. But that does not explain why the presence of cameras has failed to slow the rate of accidents at those intersections, Raub and others said. The outside experts suggested that the cameras might be more useful at other locations, and D.C. officials said they are studying the issue.

The city has cameras at 45 intersections. They take photographs of cars running red lights, generating tickets that are processed by a private contractor. Police oversee the issuance of tickets, which carry $75 fines, and the money goes into the city's general fund -- nearly $5 million last year.

The Post obtained a D.C. database generated from accident reports filed by police. The data covered the entire city, including the 37 intersections where cameras were installed in 1999 and 2000.

The analysis shows that the number of crashes at locations with cameras more than doubled, from 365 collisions in 1998 to 755 last year. Injury and fatal crashes climbed 81 percent, from 144 such wrecks to 262. Broadside crashes, also known as right-angle or T-bone collisions, rose 30 percent, from 81 to 106 during that time frame. Traffic specialists say broadside collisions are especially dangerous because the sides are the most vulnerable areas of cars.

The number of crashes and injury collisions at intersections with cameras rose steadily through 2001, then dipped through 2003 before spiking again last year.

The results were similar or worse than figures at intersections that have traffic signals but no cameras. The number of overall crashes at those 1,520 locations increased 64 percent; injury and fatal crashes rose 54 percent; and broadside collisions rose 17 percent.

Overall, total crashes in the city rose 61 percent, from 11,333 in 1998 to 18,250 last year.

Lon Anderson, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said the data reinforce the motor club's view that the red-light effort is targeted more at generating revenue than at reducing crashes. "They are making a heck of a lot of money, and they are picking the motorists' pockets on the pretense of safety," he said.

Red-light cameras are used in 12 states, including Maryland, where they are deployed in Montgomery and Prince George's counties. In Virginia, the General Assembly eliminated red-light cameras this year partly because of concerns raised by some legislators about civil liberties. The action affected six Northern Virginia jurisdictions: Alexandria, Arlington County, Fairfax City, Fairfax County, Falls Church and Vienna.

The District installed its first batch of 26 cameras in 1999. City officials added 14 the next year. Some intersections have more than one camera to cover different approaches. All told, the cameras installed in 1999 and 2000 covered 38 intersections; a camera subsequently was removed from one of them.

Ramsey said city officials put the cameras where police noticed the most red-light running. At the start of the program, police officials said they also received advice on camera placement from residents and from the private contractor that operated the devices.

Nine more cameras were installed in July, boosting the number of monitored intersections to 45. Most of those drivers ticketed come from outside the city. In August, for example, less than one-fourth of the citations were issued to motorists from the District.

D.C. police also operate photo-radar devices that take pictures of speeding motorists. Because many of these cameras are mobile and used at varying times, they were not included in The Post's review.

Douglas Noble, the chief traffic engineer for the D.C. Department of Transportation, said his office was examining crash data and plans to review the red-light camera locations. The department collects the data from police reports and advises police about where to install the devices.

Noble said that no studies have been conducted on the District's red-light cameras in several years but that he "would not disagree" with The Post's analysis. "I don't necessarily have an explanation" for the trends, he said.

He added that he believes the severity of injury crashes has decreased at camera locations. The city crash database does not categorize the severity of crashes.

AAA and other critics have accused the city of installing cameras in high-volume locations where they could generate thousands of tickets, regardless of how many accidents happened there.

The analysis raised questions about where police installed the cameras. Nine intersections with cameras had two or fewer crashes annually in 1998 and 1999; seven reported no crashes that led to injuries or fatalities during that period. Officials installed cameras at six of the 20 most crash-prone intersections in 1998, data show.

Seventeen of the 45 intersections now covered by red-light cameras were ranked among the 50 most accident-prone locations in the District last year.

Individual results at intersections vary, the analysis shows.

The camera at New York Avenue and Fourth Street NW, for example -- on one of Washington's busiest commuter routes -- has generated the most tickets in the city: more than 150,000 since 1999. Although the number of monthly citations there has dropped 65 percent, crashes nearly doubled, from 12 in 1998 to 23 last year.

The number of crashes has decreased in recent years at another busy spot, Bladensburg Road and New York Avenue NE, where cameras have generated more than 73,000 tickets. The intersection had 35 crashes in 1998, 88 in 2001 and 71 last year.

The camera at Wisconsin Avenue and Brandywine Street NW has produced nearly 30,000 tickets, but its crash totals have hovered around two a year.

Advocates for the cameras point to research such as a recent national study by the Federal Highway Administration that showed the number of broadside crashes dipped 25 percent at sites with cameras. The study found that rear-end crashes rose 15 percent at camera locations. But because broadside crashes are more dangerous and cause greater damage, the study concluded that the cameras can help reduce the costs of traffic accidents.

Gang-Len Chang, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Maryland, said cameras can be useful in reducing serious crashes if deployed properly.

Chang and the other traffic specialists said the city should not abandon red-light cameras. Rather, they said, the mixed results indicate that D.C. officials should conduct a thorough review of camera sites.

"They definitely should look at the locations and find where the cameras would be much more effective," said Nicholas J. Garber, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Virginia who studied the use of red-light cameras in Fairfax County.

Read Further Analysis

KATU

Reprinted from KATU

November 11, 2005

By Anna Song and KATU Web Staff

PORTLAND, Ore. - They are the quiet, watchful eyes observing drivers from street corners throughout the city, red light cameras that watch and wait for us to barrel through that red light.

Sometimes, you realize right away that you have been caught and then comes the really fun part, getting that $237 ticket in the mail.

The city's Transportation Department and the Portland Police Bureau say the high tech devices are doing the job.

"The cameras are a very clear message to motorists that it is not OK to run red lights," Rob Burchfield, P.E., Traffic Engineer for the City of Portland, told KATU News. "So far, the evidence we see is that safety is improving."

Burchfield pointed out that there has been a 10 percent drop in red light running citations since the cameras first went in three years ago, from 20,000 in 2002 down to a projected 18,000 this year.

Another major benefit is fewer t-bone accidents, a few of which are actually caught on tape with red light cameras.

However, while the number of t-bone accidents have gone down, the number of rear-end accidents have gone up at intersections where red light cameras were installed.

The accidents often happen because people slam on their brakes to avoid getting a ticket, leaving little time for the driver behind them to react.

The city's traffic numbers obtained by KATU News show a 140 percent increase in rear-end crashes at the intersections where red light cameras were installed.

"That's a tough one," said Elliot Eki with AAA of Oregon. "That's a tough call. You know, who's at fault?"

Eki said the data heightens the motor club's concerns that red light cameras are more about generating revenue than making roads safer.

However, Burchfield says revenue is not the goal and that this outcome was expected all along.

"There is some tradeoff between the angle crashes and an increase in rear-end crashes," he said.

The difference is the severity of injury. Rear-end crashes do not tend to be as disastrous as side angle or t-bone crashes, something most drivers we talked to grudgingly accept.

"You can either get in a rear-end accident trying to stop or you can get in an accident out in the intersection by getting in somebody else's way who is trying to cross on a green," said driver Tom Chatterton.

AAA recommends that drivers tap on their brakes before reaching an intersection where the light is about to turn red.

That signals to the person behind, who might be tailgating you, that you are about to stop.

In the course of doing this story, KATU learned a few more surprising things - the cameras do not always flash when they should and nearly half of the potential tickets never get issued.

While capturing video for our story, we shot plenty of people getting busted plowing through red lights and triggering the cameras to flash.

However, there were also plenty of times that the cameras did not flash, like when we shot video at the intersection of S.W. 19th and West Burnside.

Again and again we saw cars cruising through full red lights without ever triggering a flash.

We know the cameras were working because they had flashed at other violators just moments before.

According to the city's Transportation Department, there are certain situations where the camera will not flash, like when a vehicle is in an outside lane and outside of the view of the camera lens.

Also, at some locations, the vehicle needs to be traveling at a high enough speed to trigger the camera.

As for what KATU caught on camera, the city said they will be checking with the contractor to make sure the cameras are working properly.

Something else we learned - nearly half of all potential red light tickets do not actually get issued.

Unlike Washington, Oregon is a driver responsibility state, which means a good quality photo of both the driver and the license plate must be captured by the camera.

That information is then checked against the registered owner of the vehicle and their picture that was taken at DMV. If the items do not match up, then no ticket is given.

Last year, 47 percent of red light runners never got a ticket, either because they did not have a front license plate, a gender match could not be determined or the driver's identity just was not clear.

Portland traffic police say there is only one brand of license plate cover out there that deflects the camera's eye, although they will not say which one that is.

The Coloradoan

Reprinted from the Coloradoan

Article published Oct 30, 2005

Accidents increase on camera's watch
By MATTHEW BENSON
MattBenson@coloradoan.com

A system of red-light cameras installed at the corner of Drake Road and College Avenue to reduce red-light running might not be working quite as hoped.

The number of accidents and accident rates at the intersection have steadily increased in the years since the city of Fort Collins installed a system in 1997.

In that time, injuries suffered at the intersection haven't appreciably declined and the number of citations issued for running the light has jumped roughly 64 percent.

Also, the rate of accidents per 1 million vehicles entering the intersection climbed from 1.31 in 1994 to 2.4 last year. The intersection remains the city's second most dangerous in terms of the accident rate.

The figures - gleaned from a Fort Collins Coloradoan analysis of a decade's worth of accident data - call into question the effectiveness of the camera system at reducing red-light running and preventing collisions.

City officials, meanwhile, are considering adding red-light cameras to a second Fort Collins intersection. That decision likely will be made in mid-2006, though City Council has been warm to the idea.

Lt. Gary Perman of Fort Collins police conceded that evidence of the effectiveness of the red-light cameras is anecdotal but insisted the system works.

"There's no doubt in my mind it reduces the number of red-light violations. I think it keeps people from running the red light who otherwise would have run it," he said. "Prevention is always a difficult thing to measure. How do you gauge something that isn't happening?"

But City Manager Darin Atteberry said the accident figures give him pause about expanding the red-light camera system.

"It gives me some questions. I have been told consistently this will improve safety and reduce injury accidents," he said. "These are questions I'll ask of police services and transportation engineering."
The system operates at Drake and College with a series of six cameras. When a driver enters the intersection after the light turns red, the cameras photograph the vehicle, its rear license plate and driver.

Violators receive a ticket in the mail for $75, which they can pay or contest in court.

The cameras are meant to address a problem that's deadly serious: In 2002, 3,000 deaths and 476,000 injuries nationwide were related to drivers running red lights, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

But critics of red-light cameras say the systems don't work. Moreover, they argue the cameras actually lead to an increase in rear-end accidents as drivers slam on their brakes to avoid citations.

Some of the statistics at Drake and College appear to bear out that claim. In 2004, for example, the intersection had 34 rear-end accidents. All but six were in the northbound or southbound lanes, those that are watched by the red-light cameras.

Eric Skrum, communications director for the National Motorists Association, pointed to a Washington Post examination of the effectiveness of Washington, D.C.'s 45 intersections with red-light cameras.

From 1998 to 2004, the newspaper found that the number of crashes at locations with cameras more than doubled. Injury and fatal crashes climbed 81 percent, and broadside wrecks -- considered among the most dangerous -- increased 30 percent.

Signal-light intersections without cameras saw a 64 percent increase in overall crashes, a 54 percent hike in injury and fatal wrecks and a 17 percent increase in broadside collisions.

"Our position has always been that the cameras are ineffective," Skrum said.

In Fort Collins, wrecks at the corner of Drake and College dipped briefly following the installation of the red-light camera system. In 1998, the first full year it was in place, the intersection saw 44 crashes and an accident rate of 1.6.

The number of wrecks dropped to 38 and the accident rate declined to 1.38 the following year, but both figures were on the rise again by 2000.

Last year, there were 66 accidents at the intersection, including seven with injuries.

Skrum said communities often look to cameras as a magic bullet for intersections with a high incidence of red-light runners. Such intersections typically have a design flaw, he said, such as a yellow-light cycle that's too short and doesn't allow drivers time to clear the area.

Skrum pointed to Fairfax County, Va. In 2001, the Virginia Department of Transportation increased by 1.5 seconds the length of the yellow-light cycle at an intersection with cameras. The increase in the yellow-light time resulted in a 94 percent drop in citations at the intersection, Skrum said.

"Those accidents don't have to be occurring," he said. "If you allow people enough time to clear the intersection or see that yellow light and be able to stop, they won't run the red light."

The system of red-light cameras in Fairfax County and across Virginia has since been abandoned. The Virginia General Assembly disbanded the system this year because of concerns about privacy and the cameras' effectiveness.

In response to a spike in rear-end accidents at Drake and College, Fort Collins recently added one second to the yellow-light time on the northbound and southbound sides of the intersection.

The change was made Aug. 12 so results aren't yet clear. But Traffic Operations Director Eric Bracke likes what he sees so far: The intersection registered seven wrecks in September 2004 but just three in September 2005.

The number of red-light citations also has been cut by more than half.

Prior to the signal-light adjustment, the cameras were snapping 35 to 40 citation photos a week. Since the change, that number has fallen to roughly 15 a week.

The drop-off has been so precipitous, in fact, that city officials are waiting to see whether the numbers rebound before recommending the addition of cameras to a second intersection. They worry the new cameras would be a money-loser, which is the last thing the city needs in a year when it's cutting roughly $5 million from its general fund.

Fort Collins contracts with Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. for its system of red-light cameras at Drake and College and a mobile camera van that watches for speeders. The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company says it's the largest provider of digital photo traffic enforcement in North America, with programs in 60 cities across 13 states.

For Redflex's services, Fort Collins paid $497,000 last year, Lt. Perman said. But the red-light cameras and mobile van generated $734,000 in revenue.

That left the city $237,000 in excess fines, which Perman said was devoted to traffic enforcement and related court and other costs.

As Fort Collins waits to see about adding cameras to a second intersection, it's moving forward with plans for an additional mobile camera unit to combat speeding. The addition of a second mobile unit and another set of red-light cameras could double the city's revenue from the program, with a higher profit margin because much of the start-up overhead has already been paid.

Police Chief Dennis Harrison maintained that the camera program has never been about the money.

"It's all driven by safety factors and accident rates," he said. "This was never designed, in our application of it, to be a money maker. The first and primary issue will always be safety."

But he conceded that issue remains a bit of an unanswered question when it comes to the red-light cameras.

"Yes, we do need to continue to look at that," Harrison said, continuing, "I don't think there's a straightforward, apples to apples (comparison) that says we should get rid of it tomorrow."

North County Times

Reprinted from the North County Times

Minor rear-end accidents increase since red-light cameras installed

April 22, 2005

By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer

OCEANSIDE ---- Rear-end accidents have increased at one Oceanside intersection since the city installed its first red-light cameras Jan. 10.

Lt. Rick Sing, the Oceanside police officer who oversees the department's traffic enforcement division, recapped the first three months of operation for the city's two red-light camera installations at a city Police and Fire Commission meeting Thursday night.

The cameras are at College and Oceanside boulevards and at Canyon Drive and Mission Avenue.

Sing told commissioners that from Jan. 10 through Mar. 31 there were eight rear-end accidents at Oceanside and College boulevards, up from only one during the same time in 2004.

Sing said the eightfold increase in rear-end accidents may be because drivers hit the brakes when they think a light is about to turn red to avoid having their picture taken.

"They begin to get a little jittery about making a stop," Sing said.

He said the rear-end accidents at Oceanside and College were not as severe as head-on or side-impact collisions that are sometimes the result of running a red light.

"These are minor accidents," Sing said.

By comparison, Sing said rear-end accidents decreased at Canyon Drive and Mission Avenue. According to data presented Thursday night, there were two rear-end collisions at that intersection during the first three months of 2004 and only one during the same period in 2005.

Sing also released figures detailing the number of citations issued in the first three months of the cameras' operation.

According to the Police Department, it had issued 2,530 citations since the cameras started snapping pictures. An additional 753 motorists had their pictures taken at the two intersections but had their citations thrown out for various reasons. According to data Sing provided to the commission, the largest number of tickets ---- 198 ---- were dismissed because the sun's glare masked a driver's identity or obscured the number on a vehicle's license plate. An additional 144 drivers got off because their vehicles was partially obstructed from view and 136 walked away with no ticket because their license plates were obscured.

To date Sing said the department has received no revenue from the tickets, though it has been billed $71,378 by Redflex Inc., which installs, runs and maintains the cameras.

Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.

Philadelphia Weekly

Reprinted from the Philadelphia Weekly

Red-Light District

Rear-end collisions have increased at intersections with traffic cameras.

by Gwen Shaffer

The red-light cameras recently installed at three intersections on Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia may give new meaning to the expression "bumper-to-bumper traffic."

That's because the number of rear-end collisions has shot up at the intersections of both Red Lion Road and Grant Avenue since the cameras were installed, according to statistics obtained from the Philadelphia Police Department. The cameras are intended to increase safety along busy, accident-prone Roosevelt Boulevard.

Ninety-one auto accidents occurred at the intersection of Grant Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard between Feb. 23 and Sept. 4, including one fatal crash. The intersection was the scene of 82 accidents--one deadly--during this same time period in 2004, before the cameras existed, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PENNDOT) installed red-light cameras at this location in February. Grant Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard has claimed the highest accident rate of any intersection in the city for the past six years.

Red-light cameras began taking photos at the intersection of Red Lion Road and Roosevelt Boulevard on May 21. Thirty-nine auto accidents occurred there between June 21 and Sept. 4. That's seven crashes more than the 32 accidents that took place during the same time period in 2004, according to police records.

PENNDOT recently installed a third set of red-light cameras at the intersection of Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard, but accident statistics for that site are not yet available.

City Councilman Frank Rizzo, who sponsored legislation allowing the cameras to be installed, says he's concerned about the increase in rear-end collisions. But, he adds, he's not surprised.

"This situation is predictable," he says. "When drivers see a camera or even a police officer at an intersection, they do erratic things. They may stop quickly or turn to avoid getting a traffic ticket."

Following a grace period that ended in June, the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) began sending out $100 tickets to motorists caught on camera running red lights.

The PPA website acknowledges that the installation of red-light cameras may "temporarily" lead to a jump in rear-end collisions.

"However, any small increase in these minor accidents returns to previous levels when drivers begin to slow down and comply with the speed limits and traffic signal phases," the website states, adding that more "severe" accidents decline "dramatically" after red-light cameras are mounted.

But traffic studies conducted in other states that operate red-light cameras contradict this claim.

The Virginia Transportation Research Council released a study in January finding that the "net effect" of red-light cameras was more injuries. While accidents caused by drivers running red lights dropped by 24 percent to 33 percent, the study concluded that rear-end crashes shot up between 50 percent and 71 percent at these same intersections.

Researchers at the North Carolina Urban Transit Institute conducted a 57-month analysis of red-light cameras, taking into consideration variables such as heavy traffic and weather.

"The results do not support the view that red-light cameras reduce crashes," read the final report. "Instead we find that [the cameras] are associated with higher levels of many types and severity categories of crashes."

PENNDOT officials insist it's "premature" to judge the effectiveness of the red-light cameras along Roosevelt Boulevard.

"Full-fledged enforcement began only in June," says PENNDOT spokesperson Rich Kirkpatrick, adding that red-light cameras are "just one of the tools used to address ongoing traffic violations on Roosevelt Boulevard."

PENNDOT has provided $650,000 over the past two years for bolstered police enforcement "on the entire length of the Boulevard," Kirkpatrick says. Officers issued 5,504 citations for "hazardous moving violations" on the road during 2004 alone, he adds.

Councilman Rizzo characterizes many of the accidents at the intersections of Grant Avenue and Red Lion Road as "minor fender-benders" or "scratched paint" that drivers "insist on reporting to the police for insurance purposes."

"Anecdotally, I think the cameras are doing a good job," he says.

Rizzo can speak only anecdotally because the PPA refuses to release data on the number of $100 citations issued.

"The law says we're not allowed to discuss anything related to the red-light cameras," says PPA spokesperson Linda Miller.

According to a provision in the Pennsylvania statute, photographs, written records, reports, names, addresses and violation statistics regarding the use of cameras at intersections "shall not be deemed a public record." Even for City Council members and other local politicians who request it.

"How can I determine whether the city is hooked up with a good project without these statistics?" Rizzo asks, noting that he's urging state lawmakers to amend the law.

Rizzo also says he'd like to see members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly stay out of the process determining where red-light cameras will be mounted in the future.

"Some state representatives simply want them in their districts," Rizzo says. "But we need traffic engineers making these decisions, not politicians."

The PPA tentatively plans to install cameras at six additional intersections in Philadelphia. These sites include Kensington Avenue at Clearfield Street, Richmond Street at both Allegheny and Castor avenues; Aramingo Avenue at York Street, Broad Street at Washington Avenue, and Thompson Street at Lehigh Avenue.

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