Lucerne Car Accident Lawyers

Those pesky red light cameras that catch people running traffic lights may be useful for more than filling municipal coffers. A new study shows that traffic fatalities have decreased significantly in many cities where the cameras are used.

•   Traffic fatalities caused by running red lights decreased by 35 percent in cities that installed red light cameras. During the same time, those accidents decreased by only 14 percent in cities without the cameras.

•   All traffic fatalities at intersections, including those that were not caused by running red lights, decreased by 14 percent in cities with cameras — and increased by 2percent in cities without the cameras.

•   There were two exceptions in California: Fatalities decreased in Anaheim, which does not have cameras, and increased in Bakersfield, which does have a few cameras.

Sacramento, Santa Ana, Long Beach, and San Diego were among the cities that saw a significant drop in car accident deaths, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

The study published by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) looked at the 99 U.S. cities with populations over 200,000, comparing those with red light camera programs to those without.

“Because [researchers] wanted to see how the rate of fatal crashes changed after the introduction of cameras, they compared two periods, 2004-08 and 1992-96,” the IIHS said in a statement. Cities that already had cameras during 1992-96 were excluded from the analysis, as were cities that had cameras for only part of the later study period, the statement said.

Despite prevalent public support for the cameras, opponents claim the devices constitute an invasion of privacy and are used simply to get money for financially strapped city governments.

“Somehow, the people who get tickets because they have broken the law have been cast as the victims,” IIHS president Adrian Lund said. “We rarely hear about the real victims — the people who are killed or injured by these lawbreakers.”

Running red lights caused 676 deaths and injured about 113,000 people in 2009, according to the IIHS. In big cities with red light cameras, the combined per capita rate of fatal crashes caused by running red lights dropped by 35 percent (compared with those same cities’ rates before they had the cameras). During that same time period, the rate also fell in cities without cameras, but only by 14 percent.

In fact, all car accident fatalities at signal intersections, even those that did not involve running red lights, dropped 14 percent in the cities with cameras — and increased 2 percent in the cities without cameras.

“Based on these calculations,” the study stated, “if red light cameras had been in place for all five years in all 99 U.S. cities with populations over 200,000, a total of 815 deaths could have been avoided.”

All statistics are generalizations, of course, and there are always exceptions to the rule. Two of those anomalies were in California. The fatality rate dropped 29 percent in Anaheim, which does not have cameras, and increased by 35 percent in Bakersfield, which did install a few cameras.

Researchers didn’t know exactly why the data for these cities didn’t conform to the other cities, said study author Anne McCartt. Bakersfield has experienced a growth spurt over the past 20 years, which may have had something to do with it, she said.

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented motor vehicle accident injury victims for 35 years.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.