Skip to main content

Top five findings in NJDOT three-year red light camera report

Red-light safety cameras installed by American Traffic Solutions (ATS) turned in another year of positive results at intersections in New Jersey, and trends show "driver behaviour is being modified," according to the recently issued New Jersey Department of Transportation's (NJDOT) third annual analysis of the photo enforcement program. According to the report, "Further sustained analysis is needed and the Department recommends that the traffic control signal monitoring systems pilot program continue."
April 1, 2014 Read time: 3 mins
Red-light safety cameras installed by 17 American Traffic Solutions (ATS) turned in another year of positive results at intersections in New Jersey, and trends show "driver behaviour is being modified," according to the recently issued 7104 New Jersey Department of Transportation's (NJDOT) third annual analysis of the photo enforcement program. According to the report, "Further sustained analysis is needed and the Department recommends that the traffic control signal monitoring systems pilot program continue."

The pilot program officially began on 16 December 2009 and will end in December 2014. This third annual report describes the pilot program and analyses the safety data for all authorised monitoring systems where violations have been issued for at least one year for the period ending 31 December 2012.  Key findings in the report include:

For the two locations with three years of data, when the pre-camera year crash data is compared to year three, right-angle crashes are down 86 per cent, rear-end crashes are down 58 per cent, total crashes are down 72 per cent, and estimated crash severity costs have been reduced by US$246,200.  Citations issued at these locations are down 83 per cent, comparing the first month of operation with month 36, the last month at the end of the three year period.

Looking at the crash, severity and citation data, both annually and over the three year period the report concludes that the red light running (RLR) system has made a difference and therefore appears to be a viable safety tool at these Group 1 intersections.

For the twenty-two locations that have been active for two full years, when the pre-camera year data is compared to year two, right-angle crashes are down 60 per cent, rear-end crashes are down seven per cent, total crashes are down 27 per cent, and estimated crash severity costs have been reduced by US$787,200. Citations issued at these locations, comparing month 1 of operation with month 24, citations are down 61 per cent.

For the twenty-three intersections that have been operating for one full year, when the pre-camera year is compared to year 1, right-angle crashes are down 15 per cent, rear-end crashes are down three per cent, total crashes are down five per cent, and estimated crash severity costs have decreased by US$2,176,100. Comparing month one with month twelve, citations issued at these locations are down 31 per cent.

Adding the severity costs for each operational year, right-angle crash costs at all RLR intersections have decreased US$1,519,500 and rear-end crash costs have decreased US$1,690,000, resulting in a combined net public benefit of US$3,209,500 for the program up to 31 December 2012.

“Just as New Jersey’s first and second annual reports on red light safety cameras found, this latest analysis shows red light safety cameras are enhancing safety in Jew Jersey,” said Adam Tuton, president of ATS. “The data proves that the longer the programs are in existence, the better the public safety results.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Vehicle tracking in New Hampshire saves time, improves efficiency
    February 2, 2012
    Provider Enterprises is the largest transportation company dedicated to special needs children in New Hampshire, US serving more than 1,500 children daily. Several years ago, the company decided to deploy GPS-based fleet tracking technology primarily to monitor the location of its 178-vehicle fleet for routing and quality-control purposes.
  • We need to talk about AVs
    October 15, 2021
    Will driverless vehicles lead to more deaths and destroy more lives than their manual counterparts? Transport writer Colin Sowman argues that they will
  • Econolite Centracs travel time module deployed in Florida
    August 24, 2012
    Econolite has announced that Lee County, Florida, has harnessed the travel time module of its Centracs advanced transportation management system (ATMS) for the deployment of its BlueToad (Bluetooth Travel-time Origination and Destination) system to actively monitor travel times and road speeds. The ATMS was installed in 2011, as part of Lee County’s signal re-timing project for which the county’s DoT received an ‘A’ grade in the 2012 National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC) National Traffic Signa
  • EU citizens ‘pay twenty times too much for traffic noise reduction’
    November 8, 2013
    According to Paul de Vos, strategic advisor at engineering and consultancy firm Royal HaskoningDHV, European policy forces local authorities to make huge investments in traffic noise reduction. Until 2017, European governments will be spending US$168 billion for noise barriers, quieter roads and measures related to the negative effects of traffic noise, including damage to health. However, by simply making cars quieter, the total cost to the taxpayer could be reduced by a factor of twenty.