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Labor Day Holiday Weekend Travelers Beware

8 September 1998

Labor Day Holiday Weekend Travelers Beware - Red Light Running on the Rise; Red Light Camera Technology Growing in Use and Popularity

New Coalition Formed to Pass Laws Stemming Rising Tide of Intersection Crashes

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 -- This holiday weekend, as an estimated
36.6 million people take to the highways, Advocates for Highway and Auto
Safety is reminding motorists to obey red lights in an effort to prevent
needless deaths and injuries from highway crashes.
    Last Labor Day Weekend 525 people were killed on the nation's highways and
the National Safety Council is predicting an additional 498 lives will be lost
this weekend. Motorists can help prove this prediction wrong this holiday by
obeying traffic signals.
    According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers who run
red lights are responsible for an estimated 260,000 crashes each year. About
750 of these are fatal, and the numbers are rising. Fatal crashes at
intersections have increased 19 percent between 1992 and 1996 compared with a
six percent increase for all other types of fatal crashes.
    "Americans are fed up with motorists who run red lights and want states to
take tougher action to catch red light runners," said Advocates' President
Judith Lee Stone citing a recent Louis Harris poll conducted for Advocates.
According to the poll, a decisive 65% majority want their state legislatures
to authorize the use of cameras at intersections to take a picture of the
license plate of every car that runs a red light, and mail a ticket to the
owner.
    "Along with speeding, running red lights is one of the most dangerous
forms of aggressive driving," said Stone. "Obeying traffic signals is a basic
safety practice that everyone ought to follow. If we can't rely on our fellow
motorists to stop when the light turns red, what can we expect on our
highways?"
    Preliminary crash data from localities employing red light running cameras
already indicates their effectiveness. Victoria, Australia experienced a 32%
reduction in intersection crashes in just the first six months after camera
installation, and Oxnard, CA found that red light running camera use reduced
the number of red light running violations by 42% after cameras were
introduced at nine intersections.  Plus, there was strong public support for
the cameras -- 80% of Oxnard residents favored using them.
    For these reasons, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety today announced
the formation of a new coalition called NOTIS: National Organization for
Traffic Intersection Safety, which will work to pass state laws allowing the
use of red light running camera technology at intersections.  "Our goal is to
have these lifesaving cameras mounted at all the most dangerous intersections
in the country," said Stone. "Today I invite others in the highway safety
community, including the government, automakers, insurers, public health
officials and intersection control device suppliers to join us in our fight to
stem the rising tide of red light running in this country."
    Advocates is an alliance of consumer, safety, law enforcement, public
health and insurance organizations working to reduce deaths and injuries on
our nations highways. For more information, please visit Advocates' World Wide
Web site at http://www.saferoads.org.