Red light cameras ‘reducing intersection deaths’ in Toronto

The city of Toronto, Canada has seen an average drop of 40 per cent in the number of collisions causing a death or serious injury at intersections equipped with red light cameras, according to the Toronto Star. At some locations, there have been no deaths or serious injuries caused by collisions since the cameras were installed.The city has almost doubled its red light cameras as part of a plan it says is aimed at eliminating traffic death and serious injuries.
September 4, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

The city of Toronto, Canada has seen an average drop of 40 per cent in the number of collisions causing a death or serious injury at intersections equipped with red light cameras, according to the Toronto Star.  At some locations, there have been no deaths or serious injuries caused by collisions since the cameras were installed.

The city has almost doubled its red light cameras as part of a plan it says is aimed at eliminating traffic death and serious injuries. To date, 65 new cameras have been placed at intersections this year and are now operational, with another 10 to come that are still under construction or review.

In an e-mailed statement to the newspaper, Myles Currie, director of the city’s Traffic Management Centre said the city would traditionally remove cameras and relocate them to other locations. However, it was advised to retain the cameras from the previous phase. “They continue to maintain their effectiveness at those locations and moreover, anecdotally we are seeing a halo effect of the cameras likewise serving to reduce fatal and serious injury collisions at adjacent intersections as well,” he concluded.

Signage is key to making sure the cameras are effective, according to Brian Patterson, president and CEO of the Ontario Safety League. He said that unlike common tactics like speed bumps, increasing the number of red light cameras is one of the traffic calming and behaviour modification projects that really does work.

Enforcement

Related Content

  • Substantial savings from smarter street lighting
    February 25, 2015
    As authorities strive to reduce expenditure and carbon emissions, Colin Sowman looks at some of the smart ways of managing street lighting while containing costs and maintaining safety. Street lighting can account for 40% of an authority’s energy consumption. So, faced with the need to reduce outgoings, some authorities are looking for smart ways of managing street lighting or even turning off swathes of street lights in the small hours. Back in 2008 the E-street Initiative report concluded that authorities
    Read More
  • Mexico City seeks solutions to improve air quality
    December 6, 2017
    David Crawford ponders prospects for one of the world’s most congested and polluted cities. In 1992, the United Nations named Mexico City as the world’s most polluted urban centre. In the first half of 2016, following the updating of pollution alert limits to meet international standards, Mexico recorded 115 days where ozone concentrations exceeded the acute exposure health limit.
    Read More
  • CES 2019 says hello to the future
    February 20, 2019
    The launch of the latest gadgets has made the Consumer Electronics Show into tech heaven for geeks worldwide – but there is a serious ITS component, too. Ben Spencer braves the bright lights of Las Vegas to find out more The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been the showcase for some of the world’s most iconic gadgets – from VCRs to the Commodore 64, and from the camcorder to the launch of HDTV. This has made CES a mecca for tech heads all over the world since it began in the 1960s, but these days it
    Read More
  • Continental: US road deaths are ‘public health crisis’
    June 6, 2019
    The 40,000 deaths on US roads last year amount to a ‘public health crisis’, according to Continental North America’s president Jeff Klei. Giving the opening keynote address at ITS America’s 28th Annual Meeting & Expo, Klei said: “If you could save 40,000 lives a year, would you? We believe this situation needs to be treated with the same priority as other health crises in this country.” But help is at hand, he said. The concept of ‘Vision Zero’, where there are no fatalities from crashes, “seems a lon
    Read More

Highlighted Content