Red-light running is estimated to result in between 4000 and 5000 injury accidents each year in Great Britain, at a cost to the community in the region of .75 million to .95 million. The literature onred-light running is reviewed. Only one study has been designed to examine changes in accidents after the installation of automatic surveillance cameras at Automatic Traffic Signal (ATS) junctions, this in Victoria, Australia. It showed a one-third reduction in accidents involving vehicles approaching each other at right-angles from adjacent arms. Police records of 276 red-light running accidents in Birmingham are validated. Red-light running is shown to contribute to one-third of collisions at those ATS junctions where these accidents are most common and, in several metropolitan urban areas, usually between a fifth and a quarter of accidents at all ATS junctions. Comparison of 508 red-light running accidents with 1510 non-violation accidents illustrates some distinguishing features of both types of accident and of those involved. The red-light running accidents occurring at 154 individual sites in Birmingham between 1 December, 1985 and 30 November, 1990 are examined, the data showing that accidents cluster in sufficient numbers to merit site-specific treatment. Comparison of accidents with those in Victoria suggests that in Great Britain the potential benefit of surveillance cameras (with accompanying signs warning drivers of their presence) is at least as good as was demonstrated in Australia. The pattern of red-light running accidents during the same five-year period is examined, both in terms of aggregated statistics and on an individual site basis. Highway and traffic features associated with red-light running on 116 arms of 29 sites are described. This information may be used to decide where best to install cameras. Analyses show that the costs of paying for and installing surveillance cameras and signs at junctions where red-light running accidents occur will pay for themselves in terms of accident reduction within short periods of time. (A)
Samenvatting