Camera Enforcement Works

An interesting report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that citizens support red light cameras.

Two-thirds of drivers in 14 big cities with longstanding red light camera programs support their use, a new survey from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety indicates. The findings follow an Institute study demonstrating that cameras have reduced the rate of fatal red light running crashes by 24 percent in these same cities.

The strong public support confirms that red light camera opponents, while vocal and often influential, are a minority. Even in Houston, a city that voted in a November 2010 referendum to shut off its cameras, a majority of drivers say they favor red light camera enforcement.

“Most drivers don’t buy the argument that it’s somehow wrong to enforce the law just because you’re using a camera to do it,” says Anne McCartt, the Institute’s senior vice president for research. “They understand that this technology is preventing crashes in their cities.”

An Institute study released earlier this year showed that red light cameras save lives. Researchers looked at U.S. cities with populations over 200,000 and compared those with red light cameras to those without. In the 14 cities that had cameras in 2004-08 but didn’t have them in an earlier comparison period, automated red light enforcement saved 159 lives. If cameras had been operating in those years in all large U.S. cities, a total of 815 deaths would have been avoided.

As a follow-up, the Institute gauged drivers’ experience with cameras and their perceptions of them. More than 3,000 people in the 14 study cities were interviewed by cellphone and land line between Feb. 19 and March 29. The survey has a margin of error of about 2 percentage points. An additional 300 people were surveyed in Houston because of its recent vote to shut off the cameras. The city installed cameras in 2006, which was too late to be included in the crash study group. The Houston survey has a margin of error of 6 percentage points.

More than 9 of 10 drivers surveyed in the 14 cities believe running a red light is unacceptable, and more than 8 of 10 deem it a serious threat to personal safety. Two-thirds favor red light cameras, and 42 percent strongly favor them.

Among the 89 percent of drivers who are aware of the camera programs in their cities, a majority say the devices have made intersections safer. Nearly half know someone who has gotten a ticket, and 17 percent have gotten one themselves. Of the latter, about half believe it was deserved.

Previous surveys also have found widespread support for red light cameras, but opponents continue to claim that the programs violate privacy and are cooked up by cities merely to generate revenue. Voters in 8 cities have rejected camera programs in ballot initiatives during the past 3 years.

In Houston, where 53 percent of voters cast ballots against red light cameras in November, the people who went to the polls don’t seem to represent the majority of drivers. Fifty-seven percent of drivers there favor cameras, and 45 percent strongly favor them. However, opposition is firmer, with 28 percent saying they strongly oppose cameras versus 18 percent in the other 14 cities.

In the 14 study cities, a little more than a quarter of respondents said they oppose cameras. Asked why, 26 percent said cameras can make mistakes. The contention that cameras are about money, not safety, was mentioned by 26 percent. Nineteen percent said they make roads less safe and lead to more crashes, while 17 percent argued that they’re an invasion of privacy. The question was open-ended, and respondents could give as many reasons as they wanted.

The survey found less support for the use of cameras to crack down on right-on-red violations than for red light cameras generally. Such violations include making a right on red where it is not permitted and making the turn without stopping. Cities differ as to whether they issue tickets for rolling right-on-red turns when they are caught on camera. Nearly a fifth of drivers say they support cameras but oppose right-on-red enforcement. Forty-one percent of drivers support using cameras for these violations.

“Right-on-red violations usually aren’t associated with T-bone crashes, but they make intersections much more dangerous for pedestrians in particular,” McCartt says. “The survey results show cities need to do a better job explaining this issue to drivers.”

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee intersection collision contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation. Call 615-356-2000.

Look Both Ways Even On Green

Most car accidents in Nashville happen because people are in a rush, speeding, not paying attention, texting or talking on the phone.  An accident can happen anywhere but Nashville police who monitor car crashes will tell you that there are certain intersections where you can count on an accident or two just about every day.

More crashes happen at intersections than at any other place. Intersections constitute a very small part of rural and urban street/highway systems, yet they are implicated in 31.9 percent of all motor vehicle crashes and 15.5 percent of all fatal crashes (2004 NHTSA data). Be very careful when approaching any intersection or driveway. Never assume another driver will yield the right-of-way to you. Wait until the coast is clear and always be prepared to stop.

The Tennessee Rules of the Road suggest that when you approach an intersection you should use a technique called “Traffic Checks”. “Traffic checks” is the process of looking frequently and carefully for vehicle traffic approaching from each direction. “Traffic checks” is especially important when merging or changing lanes AND when approaching and crossing intersections.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed by a negligent driver in a Nashville intersection accident contact the experienced Nashville personal injury accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates by calling 615=356-2000.

Fatal Intersection Accidents Decline

A new study issued today by the National Safety Council reports that fatal crashes at intersections with traffic lights decreased by 17% and fatal crashes at intersections involving red-light running decreased by 27% from 2005 to 2009. The study analyzed fatal crash data in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, using statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“This report shows that we are making large strides as a nation in reducing crashes at intersections,” said Janet Froetscher, president and CEO of the National Safety Council.  “However, despite the improvement there were still 12,396 fatal crashes at intersections with traffic lights, including 4,394 fatal intersection crashes involving red-light running during that five year period.

While we are making progress, the 13,266 fatalities from these crashes remind us that we have much more to do. Each of us should consider these statistics and the measures we can take to protect ourselves, our families and our communities.”

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee intersection automobile accident, contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and get a free case analysis.

Red Light Camera Enforcement Works

For those of you have kept up with my Blog you know that I have closely followed the battle over the use, by municipalities, of Red Light Cameras. That battle took an interesting turn this past week when Hamilton County Chancellor Frank Brown dismissed two lawsuits challenging their use in Red Bank and Chattanooga Tennessee. The Plaintiff’s sought millions of dollars in damages.

The Plaintiff’s had argued that the cameras were installed and operating before the legislature approved their use and that those people who received tickets should be awarded damages. Not so said the Chancellor, who stated in his opinion that, “A municipality has the primary responsibility for enforcing traffic regulations within their city limits as it deems proper.”

Each year crashes involving red light running claim the lives of more than 800 people and injure another 200,000 people. More than half of the deaths in red light running crashes are other motorists and pedestrians, so there should be no debate about the fact that red light runners are dangerous drivers who put other road users at risk.

A recent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study in Oxnard, California, showed that red light running violations dropped a total of 42 percent after well-publicized photo enforcement was introduced. Another study in Fairfax, Virginia, showed that violations declined about 40 percent after one year of photo enforcement. A key to all effective traffic law enforcement is publicity; without it there is no deterrent effect, and the purpose of red light cameras is deterrence.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in an intersection crash by a red-light runner, contact the experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

In my work as a Nashville automobile accident attorney I spoke with a young man from Clarksville Tennessee who was injured in a three-car collision caused by a young woman who made a turn directly in front of him. He had very little, if any, time to brake before he t-boned her Honda. He slammed into her and her car hit another vehicle. Through the grace of God no one was killed.

More crashes happen at intersections than at any other place. Intersections constitute a very small part of rural and urban street/highway systems, yet they are implicated in 31.9 percent of all motor vehicle crashes and 15.5 percent of all fatal crashes (2004 NHTSA data). Be very careful when approaching any intersection or driveway. Never assume another driver will yield the right-of-way to you. Always be prepared to stop.

“Traffic checks” is the process of looking frequently and carefully for vehicle traffic approaching from each direction. “Traffic checks” is especially important when merging or changing lanes AND when approaching and crossing intersections. Look both ways as you near an intersection. Before you enter an intersection, continue checking traffic from both the left and right for approaching vehicles and/or crossing pedestrians.

The Left-Right-Left Rule: Look first to the left to make sure cross traffic is yielding the right-of-way. Then look for traffic from the right. If stopped, look both left and right just before you start moving. Look across the intersection before you start to move to make sure the path is clear through the intersection.

As you enter an intersection, check again for unusual or unexpected actions to the left and right. It is also important to watch for vehicle traffic from the front (oncoming traffic) and rear (approaching/overtaking traffic) of your vehicle at intersections. Be especially aware of vehicles behind you. If the light changes and/or you encounter a vehicle violating the right-of-way that causes you to stop suddenly, will the vehicle behind be able to stop? It is not uncommon for drivers to run red lights or stop signs resulting in a head-on or rear-end collision.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile intersection accident contact the experienced Nashville car crash lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates for a free consultation to find out about your rights and remedies.

For those of you follow my blog you know that we have been monitoring the proliferation of digital camera enforcement technology for red light runners (RLRs) and intersection speeders. For our purposes we have been following events at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Beginning in June of this year the City began installing the cameras at strategically located intersection in an effort to reduce traffic deaths and injures from speeders and those who ignore the red light signals. In my last blog I gave the up-to-date numbers of citations issued and the majority of them were for speeding as opposed to red light running.

Speeding Cops Pay The Fine

Last Friday was an important point in the ongoing saga of Oak Ridge’s effort. Friday was the first day during which an aggrieved citation receiver could appeal to the General Sessions Court to have their tickets overturned. The final toll has not be tallied but it appears that most of the speeders and red light runners who have given notice that they intend to appeal have gone ahead and paid the fine. In an interesting aside, it appears that the cameras have put the long arm of the law on, guess who? If you guessed police officers you win a cigar, yes sir, the cameras cited four Oak Ridge police officers, including one officer who was nabbed twice for speeding through the intersection. Each of the officers paid the $50.00 fine out of their own pockets.

If you are the victim of a Nashville or Tennessee intersection accident we urge you to contact our Nashville car accident attorneys today for a free consultation. When you hire an auto accident attorney from Phillip Miller & Associates, you’re getting a qualified and dedicated lawyer.