NBC 10 I-Team investigation shows red light cameras curb crashes, but not always
by TAMARA SACHARCZYK, NBC 10 NEWS
Red-light intersection cameras aim to curb crashes, but an NBC 10 I-Team investigation uncovered in Rhode Island that hasn’t always been the case.
Several communities have installed the automated cameras to ticket drivers that run red lights, including Providence, Pawtucket, Charlestown, Central Falls and East Providence.
Pawtucket Police Detective Sgt. Nathan Gallison spent years in the station’s traffic division and says the cameras have made a difference.
“Crashes have dropped by about 10% to 20% at various locations,” Gallison said. “The ultimate goal, obviously, is to reduce crashes, especially those serious types of crashes were somebody will go straight and run a red light and that front-to-side type of impact could occur.”
Those so-called T-bone crashes have significantly declined at red light camera locations, but the same can’t be said for all accidents.
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety senior research transportation engineer, Wen Hu, has studied the numbers.
“At some intersections equipped with the safety cameras, there are increases in rear-end crashes,” she said.
An Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study found that cameras reduced the rate of deadly red light running crashes by 21% but rear-end crashes at some intersections jumped by about 15%.
“It could be that one of the motorists isn’t paying attention. It could be that the motorist in the front stops abruptly,” Gallison said.
The I-Team got its hands on local crash numbers at red-light camera intersections.
In Pawtucket, crashes at Armistice Boulevard and Newport Avenue, along with Main at Thurston, dropped 33%, while crashes at Newport at Beverage Hill have largely remained the same since the installation of red-light cameras.
In Charlestown, crashes at Post Road at East Beach Road have dropped 17%, while crashes declined 16% at Post Road at West Beach Road.
However, in East Providence, crashes at Broadway and Grosvenor increased by 6% since red-light cameras were activated.
In Providence, crashes climbed by 9% at Broadway and Service Road 7.
This image from the Pawtucket Police Department shows a crash at School and Main streets.
Hu says cameras may not work at every location, but the benefits are still clear.
“The success of the red-light safety cameras needs to be carefully planned,” she said. “We think the existence of these red-light safety cameras could change driver behavior in general.”
That may already be happening in Pawtucket, where the cameras have cited 2,000 fewer drivers every year since the program was implemented.
Across the country, that’s now triggered a new trend.
“It seems that during recent years more camera programs have been discontinued,” Hu said. “I think the most commonly cited reasons for turning off the safety cameras are a decline in the citations and community opposition for financial reasons.”
Red-light safety camera programs have dropped 36% nationwide in 2023 compared to 2012.
According to AAA, more than two people are killed in red light running crashes every 24 hours.