Red Light Cameras Save Lives

I have posted on red light cameras several times in the past. And as regular readers may remember, I've always been in favor of them. I think anything that can prevent people from running a red light is a good thing. And since it's just not cost effective to put a policeman at every dangerous intersection, the next best thing is a red light camera.

Here in Amarillo, we have five red light cameras in operation -- at five of the most dangerous intersections in the city. And it looks like they are beginning to have some effect. When they were first installed, about 1500 offenders were ticketed each month. That has now fallen to about 1000 a month. Hopefully, it will fall a lot further in the future.

Even better, it looks like these cameras are saving lives. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety did a survey between 2004 and 2008 of the few cities that have had the foresight to install red light cameras. They found that the cameras have saved at least 159 lives. They believe if every large city had the cameras over 815 lives could have been saved. That may not sound like a lot of deaths to some people, but if the person saved is someone close to you it makes it look a bit different.

I know that some people claim the cameras cause more rear-end collisions. Maybe they do, but I'd rather have someone bump my car from behind than T-bone it at high speed from the side -- killing me or causing serious injury. I can understand that people get upset when they get a ticket from one of these cameras, but I don't feel sorry for them. Stop at red lights and you'll never have to worry about that (and you could be saving a life).

Here in Texas, some cities have removed their red light cameras -- probably because someone politically powerful got caught running a red light. I think that's wrong. We should be installing more of the cameras -- not removing them.