Study Finds More Accidents After Red-Light Cameras Installed
30th January 2016
In the same week a federal jury convicted a Chicago transportation official of taking bribes from a leading manufacturer of red-light cameras, council members in another prominent American city are raising questions about the equipment’s effectiveness in improving traffic safety.
Several city council members in Tampa said this week they felt duped by promises of that red-light cameras would reduce traffic crashes. That’s not happening. Instead, crashes at 23 intersections where cameras are installed in the city have increased between 40 and 51 percent, two separate analyses found.
“We were told this would help and stop crashes and it’s not,” Tampa councilwoman Yvonne Yolie Capin tells WTSP-TV. “I look at these numbers and I don’t see the value to our tax dollars.”
Her comments came following a contentious meeting about the red-light cameras. Last month, a study compiled by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles showed crashes increased 14.6 percent at intersections after cameras were installed.