Chicago red light cameras ‘provide few safety benefits’

Chicago's red light cameras fail to deliver the dramatic safety benefits long claimed by City Hall, according to a first-ever scientific study that found the nation's largest camera program is responsible for increasing some types of injury crashes while decreasing others.
December 22, 2014 Read time: 1 min
Chicago's red light cameras fail to deliver the dramatic safety benefits long claimed by City Hall, according to a first-ever scientific study that found the nation's largest camera program is responsible for increasing some types of injury crashes while decreasing others.

The state-of-the-art study commissioned by the Tribune concluded the cameras do not reduce injury-related crashes overall, finding that, while traffic cameras appeared to reduce injuries by 15 per cent for collisions at right angles, where one car crashes head-on into the side of another car, those improvements were overshadowed by a 22 per cent increase in injuries from rear-end accidents. Taken together, the study shows a statistically insignificant increase of injuries by five per cent.

The researchers also determined there is no safety benefit from cameras installed at intersections where there have been few crashes with injuries. Such accidents actually increased at those intersections after cameras went in, the study found, though the small number of crashes makes it difficult to determine whether the cameras were to blame.
Enforcement

Related Content

  • Safe-driver training reduces costs, increases safety
    February 3, 2012
    Hermes, one of Europe's leading home delivery specialists, and part of the Otto group's European logistics division, estimates that introducing a range of safe-driving measures in its UK operations have contributed to a US$1.5 million cost saving to the business in the 12 months to April 2010.
    Read More
  • Benefits of Florida's traffic signal retiming
    November 7, 2012
    Lee County in Florida has consolidated dramatic results of a major traffic signal retiming with installation of advanced monitoring and management technology for generating further benefits. The Lee County Department of Transportation (DOT), in the US State of Florida, has completed retiming of traffic signals for over 50 intersections in the cities of Fort Myers and Bonita Springs. The project aimed to evaluate existing operations and enable adjustments to optimise flows, and has produced dramatic results
    Read More
  • UK defaults to hard shoulder running to expand motorway capacity
    April 8, 2014
    Hard shoulder running has become the UK’s default response to increasing motorway capacity as Colin Sowman reports. Facing a predicted 46% increase in traffic levels by 2040 and the current economic recovery leading to more people travelling to, from and for work leaves the UK government under short- and long-term pressure to increase the capacity on the main motorway network. Particular sections of motorways are already experiencing repeated, sometimes tidal, congestion and both tight Treasury limits and t
    Read More
  • The future looks bright for ITS
    June 4, 2015
    Professor Eric Sampson talks about the past successes of ITS, its potential for the future and the challenges the industry faces. If anybody should know when Intelligent Transport Systems started that person is Professor Eric Sampson, a visiting professor at both Newcastle and London City Universities. Having spent 40 years working for the UK’s Department of Transport and other public administrations, Professor Sampson now supports the European Commission on ITS systems and advises ERTICO ITS-Europe and ITS
    Read More

Highlighted Content