The incidence of motorists entering the intersection when the traffic signal has turned red is apparently ever increasing and has become a national safety issue. When motorists enter the intersection on red, there is a good chance that they will collide with a vehicle that has entered the intersection legally from the cross street. Hence, red light running is not only a traffic violation problem, but also a safety problem as it can result in injuries and fatalities. Some background statistics on the magnitude of this problem are provided herein. According to Retting et al. (1), in 1997, about 789,000 motor vehicle collisions occurred at signalized intersections, resulting in over a half a million injuries and 2,344 fatalities. About 45 percent of the fatalities at signalized intersections were attributed to red light running. With the advent of new detection and surveillance technology, it is now possible to automate traffic law enforcement. In fact, red light running camera systems have been available for over 30 years, but it has only been the last 15 years that they have been used in the United States. Their use is slowly but steadily increasing across the many states and local jurisdictions. Their deployment has been somewhat slowed because of many concerns that affect the public's and law makers' acceptance. One of these is to what extent red light camera systems change crash experience at the signalized intersections where they are used and at other signalized intersections within the jurisdiction. This paper will explore this issue. Under the Synthesis of Practice series of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, this author conducted a critical review of the literature that dealt with the impacts of red light cameras on crashes. The results of that effort are documented here. Only studies that have been documented and are available through standard literature sources are reviewed and presented here.
Abstract