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

  • Xerox video enforcement deters stopped-bus overtaking
    November 7, 2012
    High resolution cameras, video motion detection and modems are being fitted to school buses in Maryland, as part of a system designed to enforce and deter stopped-bus overtaking violations. A new video enforcement system is being installed to record drivers illegally overtaking school buses in Frederick County, Maryland. It is against the law to overtake a parked school bus that is loading or unloading students, yet a 2011 survey for the Maryland Department of Education found 7,000 cases of drivers illegall
  • Crash prevention systems improving rapidly says IIHS
    June 2, 2014
    According to its latest report, less than a year into a new Insurance |Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) ratings program for front crash prevention, auto manufacturers are making strides in adopting the most beneficial systems with automatic braking capabilities and are offering the features on a wider variety of models. Twenty-one of 24 cars and SUVs, all 2014 models unless noted, earn an advanced or higher rating in the latest round of IIHS evaluations. "We are already seeing improvements from automaker
  • Reducing climate impacts starts at the intersection, says Inrix
    September 11, 2023
    The tools to identify and reduce unnecessary delays at intersections are here – and traffic signal performance improvement is also eligible for US government funding, points out Rick Schuman of Inrix
  • Road safety award for average speed scheme
    November 28, 2014
    A route enforcement and casualty reduction scheme on the strategic A14 in the UK has won a prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Award. The A14 route between the Midlands and East Anglia operates at the national speed limit of 70mph as a dual carriageway with central reserve and no hard shoulder. The average annual daily traffic figure is 74,000 and with no motorways or other high standard diversion routes along this corridor, journeys can be seriously delayed when congestion or collisio