Skip to main content

Decrease in Florida’s red-light running crashes

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles' (DHSMV) recently-released third annual Red-Light Camera Summary Report analysed data from 68 police agencies in the cities and towns in Florida where red-light safety cameras are deployed. The report shows a decrease in red-light running violations and crashes at intersections with red-light safety cameras and is consistent with results from previous state reports affirming the effectiveness of this important law enforcement tool. Total violations
January 6, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles' (DHSMV) recently-released third annual Red-Light Camera Summary Report analysed data from 68 police agencies in the cities and towns in Florida where red-light safety cameras are deployed. The report shows a decrease in red-light running violations and crashes at intersections with red-light safety cameras and is consistent with results from previous state reports affirming the effectiveness of this important law enforcement tool. Total violations decreased 14 percent from the 2013 study.

Out of the total 68 cities with red light cameras, 52 listed an improvement in driving behaviour, public awareness, reduction in reoffending, reduction in number of violations issued, severity of crashes, reduction in crashes, and/or increases in driver and pedestrian safety as specific additional results of the red light camera program.

Out of 23 cities that listed additional factors the jurisdiction felt most important to consider when selecting an intersection for red light cameras, 54 percent listed public safety-related factors, including the number of fatal crashes and hit and runs occurring at the intersection as well as pedestrian safety concerns.

Results in the DHSMV mirror those found in the 2014 Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) analysis that reported a 49 per cent decrease in fatal crashes at red-light safety camera intersections on state roads saving an estimated 18 lives. A separate analysis released in December 2013 by the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, an office of the 834 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, shows red-light running fatalities decreased 27 per cent in Florida, from 83 fatalities in 2011 to 61 in 2012, outpacing the nation's five per cent decrease. Every averted traffic fatality involves an economic savings. The estimated cost to each community for a single traffic fatality is estimated to be in the millions, according to cost components selected by the 831 Federal Highway Administration.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • US Automated Vehicle Framework to 'slash red tape'
    May 7, 2025
    NHTSA insists safety will be prioritised and 'unnecessary' regulation removed
  • New South Wales removes speed cameras
    October 3, 2014
    New South Wales Minister for Roads and Freight, Duncan Gay, has announced that speed cameras in ten locations across NSW are to be removed as soon as any safety works such as additional signage, barriers and markings and that work has been finished. Gay said in a statement that the government is keeping to a statement that it made while in opposition, and removing any speed cameras that did not add a proven safety benefit. The 2014 Speed Camera Review of the state’s cameras indicates that early result
  • Safety first in the Big Apple
    August 19, 2022
    For a variety of reasons, seniors are particularly vulnerable to traffic violence – but better road design can help. Adam Hill examines New York City’s new plan to keep older people from becoming collision statistics
  • Cross border enforcement a logical step
    January 30, 2012
    The logic supporting a cross-border enforcement Directive for the European Union (EU) is both detailed and compelling. The White Paper on European transport policy published in 2001 included the ambitious objective of reducing by 50 per cent by 2010 the number of people killed on the roads of the EU. But since 2005 the reduction in the number of road deaths has been slowing down: overall, the period from 2001 until 2009 saw the number of fatalities decrease by 36 per cent. According to Community indicators,