Across the country, red light camera systems have been used in an effect to reduce red light violations thereby, preventing violent collisions. However, in a somewhat surprising development, Washington, Missouri has announced that it will soon drop its red light camera program.
The Washington , Missouri City Council voted in favor of discontinuing its contract with the company that supplies the red light traffic cameras. The reason for this discontinuance of red light camera systems is a lack of progress in preventing red light violation-related accidents in the intersections that are equipped with the systems. According to the Washington Police Chief, there has been only a slight decline in the number of traffic accidents at the two intersections in Washington where the camera systems have been installed.
There has also been a drop in injury accidents at the site of these two red light camera systems since they were installed. At one of the intersections at Highway 100 and route A, the number of accidents and injuries has dropped by approximately 50%.
That is not a minor decrease. Besides, there’s also been a decrease in the number of red light citations in these areas. For instance, according to American Traffic Solutions, the company that supplied the systems to the city, the number of red light-related citations dropped dramatically from 2,095 in 2009 to just 743 in 2010.
This indicates that the number of people violating red light laws in these intersections has declined, and that driver behavior in these intersections is changing. As a Kansas City car accident lawyer , and a Missouri highway safety advocate, I am a little puzzled about why there has been a rush to discontinue a program that has been shown to have some merit.
