Am I the only one who finds it ironic that TTAC received the press release for National Stop Red Light Running Week arrived in the middle of same (August 2 – 8)? Equally strangely, the PR flack writing this tardy tiresome tirade seems to see red. “While the message is sound, this particular safety campaign is unlike traditional safety programs like ‘Click It or Ticket.’ The ‘Stop on Red Week’ program has a decidedly corporate slant. The big push behind this week appears to be coming from the photo enforcement industry. These are the companies that install red light cameras. Photo enforcement is right in the middle of the ‘safety vs. revenue’ debate taking place nationwide. It’s likely this campaign is mostly about telling the public how necessary photo enforcement is and encouraging towns to install such cameras.” How long before THAT gets pulled? Meanwhile, how about some common sense tips on how not to run a red light? Seriously.
— If you are the first car at a red light, don’t rush into the intersection when the light changes. Give a couple of seconds and an extra look to make sure traffic with the red signal has stopped.
— If the light is amber, don’t speed ahead to “make the light.” Slow down and prepare to stop. Remember amber lights vary greatly in their timing. If you have enough time to stop, then stop.
— If the light is red, certainly stop. No decision to be made there. Do it for your own safety, not because you want to avoid a ticket.
— Know the difference between arrow signals and disc signals. An arrow, red or green, controls drivers intending to move in a particular direction. A traditional disc, or circle signal, generally applies to drivers moving in any direction at the intersection. Pay attention to the types of signals you are facing.
— If you are in a strange location and don’t know the traffic patterns, traffic signal timing, or intersections, proceed with caution. Many accidents occur when drivers are lost and some intersections are trickier than others.
Simple suggestions:
1. Put your cell phone down
2. stop text messaging
3. don’t stare at your nav screen
4. don’t screw with your MP3 player
5. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR DRIVING!
From yesterday’s Denver 9 News web site:
“Through Saturday, the Denver Police Department will be cracking down on red-light violators, including at the five intersections that have the most red-light-associated
accidents.
The stepped-up enforcement comes as part of “National Stop on Red Week,” which began Sunday.
The intersections receiving special attention are:
# South Santa Fe Drive and West Alameda Avenue
# East First Avenue and University Boulevard
# Peoria Street at East 37th Avenue
# West Colfax Avenue and Kalamath Street
# Colorado Boulevard and East 40th Avenue
Lt. Ted Block of Denver police traffic operations called red-light running “a very dangerous problem.” Deaths caused by red-light running is increasing at more than three times the rate of all other fatal crashes, said Block.
“According to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, red-light running is the leading cause of urban crashes,” said Block. “In one year alone, over 165,000 injuries and over 800 fatalities were attributed to red-light running in the United States. The financial cost to the public is estimated to be more than $14 billion a year.”
At one Colfax Avenue intersection this morning, motorcycle police Sgts. Kevin Edling and Ron Johns issued 25 citations in little more than an hour. “The most common excuse we hear is, ‘I thought it was yellow,’ or ‘I’m running late,’ ” said Edling.
Running a red light is a four-point license violation with a $155 fine, plus court costs. But, said Edling, the point violation can be reduced to two points and the fine reduced if the violator acts within 20 days. Block said an average of 3.2 red-light violations occur every hour, according to one 2003
study. “Most people run red lights because they are in a hurry,” said the traffic-operations lieutenant. “The fact is, they only save a few seconds, and they may never arrive at their destination at all.”
The above story should have been linked to this one they ran the week prior:
“Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper on Tuesday told City Council members that plunging revenue will involve hard choices, unprecedented during his tenure and those of previous mayoral administrations.
He said he doubts the city has faced as drastic a drop in revenue since the Great Depression. The mayor must close a $120 million budget deficit over the next 18 months.
“It will take all of our ingenuity and all our collaboration to figure out how to do this,” Hickenlooper told council members during his weekly meeting with them. “We will have hard, hard, hard, hard decisions that will be very painful for us as individuals and for our constituents…”
Not too hard to connect the dots if you ask me.
Twotone
I’d like to know how to get home through some of the intersections on main roads near my house since the light stays RED forever when I’m coming off of a side road, wanting to turn left onto the main road.
Any suggestions? I either don’t have enough metal in my motorcycle, not enough weight or am positioned wrong if there is a road sensor.
I have the same issues with certain parking garages.
I also laught at “clickit or ticket” billboards/led signs…
Maybe we should move to roundabouts?
see: http://www.slate.com/id/2223035
Maybe we should move to roundabouts?
see: http://www.slate.com/id/2223035
+1 on roundabouts (rotaries to us here in the Colonies). Boston has lots of them — very entertaining!
Twotone
War is peace,
Freedom is slavery,
Ignorance is strength….
Big Brother – coming soon to a town near you!!!
Another +1 for roundabouts. They should be mandatory at all new intersections as far as I’m concerned. Once everyone understands how to use them they are far, far safer than a typical four-way intersection.
Major roundabout intersections can still have lights, but the potential for t-bone accidents is reduced/avoided.
@ Robstar
Check your state laws. Here in WI – which is admittidly more motorcycle-friendly than many states that lack a massive domestic cycle manufacturer – state law says that a morotcycle at a weight-controlled intersection that doesn’t have the mass to change a light may legally run the red after a minute of waiting. I believe the law also stipulates that the intersection must be free of cross traffic. Duh.
Robstar:
Sometimes it helps to know what sensing technology the light is using. Traditional inductive loops can often be seen since they cut them into the pavement and seal them up. Try to put your wheels on the loop. If the loops have been paved over and can’t be seen, try to stick just behind the white line. Newer style lights have little cameras that look down to spot vehicles. Try not to look like pavement. :-) You might try using the highbeam and aiming it as closely at the camera as you can.
thanks for the suggestions guys. I do not remember seeing any cuts in the ground so I assume they’ve been paved over.
Also: this intersection has a red light camera…
Hah.
Another +1 for roundabouts. They should be mandatory at all new intersections as far as I’m concerned. Once everyone understands how to use them they are far, far safer than a typical four-way intersection.
Major roundabout intersections can still have lights, but the potential for t-bone accidents is reduced/avoided.
NO! AAACK! I HATE roundabouts! And t-bone accidents are still possible. Traffic lights please!
John
Roundabouts, rotaries, traffic circles suffer from two major problems: They are enormously expensive to construct and they accomplish little or nothing. They also tend to elevate the level of confusion within the intersection…especially when there are pedestrians present. The same drivers that cause accidents when running traffic lights, because they’re in a hurry, will cause multi-vehicle pile-ups in traffic circles. The vast majority of North American drivers are far too inattentive and stupid to use them.
From the article I cited:
“Roundabouts are safer than traditional intersections for a simple reason: By dint of geometry and traffic rules, they reduce the number of places where one vehicle can strike another by a factor of four. They also eliminate the left turn against oncoming traffic—itself one of the main reasons for intersection danger—as well as the prospect of vehicles running a red light or speeding up as they approach an intersection to “beat the light.” The fact that roundabouts may “feel” more dangerous to the average driver is a good thing: It increases vigilance. It’s unlikely the average driver killed or severely injured in a high-speed “T-bone” crash as they drove through a green light felt much risk. In addition, drivers must slow to enter a roundabout: Placing an obstacle in the center makes this not only a physical necessity but visually disrupts the speed-encouraging continuity of the street. Motorists also travel through a roundabout more slowly than they would a traditional intersection: Roundabouts are typically built using what’s called “negative superelevation,” meaning that water flows away from the center and also that the road slopes against the direction of a driver’s turn. As a result, any crashes in a roundabout take place at lower speeds and are thus less likely to be fatal. While roundabouts can be more costly to install than other kinds of traffic controls, such calculations don’t take into account the fact that reducing fatal crashes also reduces social and monetary costs.”
Mervich- have any evidence to support your statement?
seschub:
Quote any article you want. You’re citing theory, not real-life application. All one must do is personally experience the traffic circle in North America. Don’t forget to factor in that most cities employing traffic circles feel compelled to have the local garden club plant trees and massive floral displays in the center which make it nearly impossible to discern what other traffic in the circle is doing except to your immediate left and right. Now add the “in a hurry” driver, the text messengers and cellphone users, the make-up applying drivers, a pedestran or two, etc. BAM!
“If you are the first car at a red light, don’t rush into the intersection when the light changes. Give a couple of seconds and an extra look to make sure traffic with the red signal has stopped.”
No, please, don’t encourage them RF… While I agree with the “extra look” part, DON’T give the sheeple any encouragement to be slower than they already are. They have no sense of time. Instead of “a couple of seconds”, they’ll be waiting 20 or more… Waiting until the other vehicles have come to a complete stop. Waiting until the light turns red again. Waiting for Jesus to come…
I already have to deal with idiots slowing down for GREEN lights… just in case it might turn yellow ya know.
Mervich – we have a dozen or so of them in the city of 400k people that I live in in various sizes and speeds. While it took people about 6 months to figure them out (from my colloquial experience, which seems to be equivalent to your real life application), they are honestly far superior to having lights or stop signs at intersections. I’ve driven them a fair bit in Spain and France and had always assumed that it would work in NA because of attention (and general driving habit) issues, but it doesn’t take long to learn.
We do see various arrangements in the center of residential round-abouts, but since the speeds are fairly low anyway, I haven’t seen any problems; I’ve actually yet to here of any problems at all, aside from a single transport truck that managed to get high-sided on the center of the smallest of the “major” road round abouts (and people had commented that it was too small given the volume of traffic even before the issue).
Other then existing down-town areas (which would require knocking buildings down), I’d say replace normal stop lights wherever possible…
I already have to deal with idiots slowing down for GREEN lights… just in case it might turn yellow ya know.
Remind me never to have you follow me as I’m riding my motorcycle. You’re likely to run into me because you have an atrophied sense of the real risk involved in running a green light.
Are there any traffic stats to support what the authorities say about the number of traffic deaths/serious injuries that are caused by running red lights?
I bring this up because if you believe state DOTs and other agencies involved in public “safety”, you’d think highway workers were dieing in droves because of reckless driving/speeding in work zones.
I’ve had one state DOT director flat out tell me that the number of highway worker deaths/serious injuries due to being hit by a car is miniscule. The vast majority are caused by worksite accidents unrelated to the driving public.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying drive like a maniac thru work zones. But, if we judge what the authorities say about danger to life and limb without looking at the numbers, well, we deserve every revenue generating red light camera we get.
@Robstar: How about a plate blocker?
No, not one of those $10 clear ones from AutoZone. I meant more like “Hook your leg behind the vehicle and give the camera a clear view of your calf.”
Disclaimer: Not responsible for legal issues if you actually do this. :P
Roundabouts are a breeze.
Little confusion (if you grow-up on them).
Accidents tend to be oblique-angle-low-speed v. what happens in intersections.
Coming thru a circle at 25 or 35 mph is far preferable to waiting for a light.
No need for 4 lanes (left, 2x thru, right) where 2 will do.
Who cares if there is greenery? All you have to know is if someone is approaching you from the left…
Living in Europe for 10 years, I had wished my native Detroit-area would get with the roundabout program, and now they are doing so, and on a recent visit there, I failed to see massive pile-ups in a double-loop circle with a lot of traffic flow (at the confluence of an interstate ramp-system, surface highway, cross-street, and two shopping centres on either side of the bridge over the expressway)…
People who can’t seem to accomodate themselves to simplicity would seem to be timid, have inadequate exposure to the concept, a candidate for public transportation, or quite possibly a representative for a red-light camera company…
You need a fastag, robstar.
There are several roundabouts in our area, and when they are used for their intended purpose of helping speed traffic flow as opposed to traffic lights they seem to work well. But there is one city, “University Place! We have roundabouts!” that installed them on one street near the waterfront as a “traffic calming” measure. The first time I went that way, by the time I’d gone two miles and passed through about fourteen or fifteen roundabouts, as well as more than one speed bump, I decided that I would calm myself by never setting a wheel in that fair city again. Feh!
If the light is amber, don’t speed ahead to “make the light.” Slow down and prepare to stop.
Well, yeah. I have a bunch of cars, and some of them are oldies with, ah, basic brakes: unboosted 9-inch drums at all four corners of a 3200-pound car, for example. I drive so as to keep up with traffic, and yet somehow I am never forced to push a yellow inappropriately or run a red because I “couldn’t stop”. Yet every single day, cars with vastly better brakes than mine sail right past me and through the yellow or red. I’m sure it’s nothing to do with their phone, latté, BlackBerry, Pig McMuffin, screaming brats, or anything like that, I guess they just “can’t stop”.
It’s long seemed to me that the MFFY (Me first – screw you) types who offer “I’m running late!” as an excuse for running a red would be very effectively punished and deterred by having the cops pull them over, take away their keys and their phones, direct them into a nearby parkade, and make them wait in their cars for twenty minutes (first offence) thirty minutes (second offence) forty minutes (third offence), etc. No aircon, heat, or radio (no keys). No chatterboxing the time away (no phone). No getting up and stretching legs and going for a walk; they’d have to just sit there in their cars, doing nothing. How much time didjya save, you self-important ass? How much time didjya really save?
Roundabouts: Yes. When properly configured, they work well. The Chicken Littles squawking about how they’ll never work in North America — those few of them whose arguments are even shallowly based in reality — are bitching about poor implementation; the concept is very sound and well-proven.
(twotone: Read the link you’re agreeing with. Rotaries are not the same as roundabouts.)
I grew up in (and got my first driver’s license in) New Jersey, which at the time was overrun with traffic circles at intersections of major state and US highways. Those intersections were such major clusterf**ks that I was skeptical when I found out the suburb next to mine near Detroit was planning to install some roundabouts.
To my surprise, these mostly work well (they’re at the intersections of two-lane roads, not major highways). You just have to adapt to the driving habits of Detroiters. Around Detroit, the rule is to go to the left lane as the default, and numerous Detroiters follow the rule at roundabouts, hugging the center until they reach their road, then diving for the outside at the last minute. At the same time, large numbers of Detroiters won’t enter the roundabout until they’re absolutely sure there are no other vehicles anywhere at all on the roundabout (or sometimes on the other roads).
As a result, I’ve seen backups of 8-10 cars in the left lane at the roundabout (at non-peak hours) with the center and right lanes absolutely empty. So, I can make major time by going to the center or right lane (unless I’m making the 270) and treating the roundabout as the chicane it is. Yeah, yield for traffic that’s near me on the roundabout, but other than that glance left, pull out, and go.
Let’s face facts…IF you are against red light cameras, it’s because you run red lights…Any other argument is a BS excuse…I drive my G like a jackass but I stop at red lights…
I live in a town where 50% of the people don’t stop…It’s a ridiculous situation and any steps that punish the red light runners gets my support (even if a few “innocents” get caught in the red light camera cross fire)…
Sure, it’s a cash grab by the camera makers and local municipalities but I’m for grabbing cash from the red light running a-holes.
Thanks for the broad brush treatment.
I’m against red light cameras and I *don’t* run red lights. I live in a place where people don’t stop for squat. They pull out in front of you and then wonder why you’re upset. As such, I’m damn careful at lights knowing full well I could get hit by some knucklehead yokel who drives like it’s still rurl Misery circa 1948.
Read enough reports here about how communities setup the yellow lights in such a way that “running” the red light is akin to entrapment and you should then have a justifyable skepticism about how upright and honest financially hard up communities treat such “safety” issues when it’s most likely all about revenue generation.
Then examine campaign contributions by red light camera companies. If you find a connection between them, their campaign contributions and the dough they spend on lobbying, and the communities that use their systems to “protect” us, I’ll be shocked!
Mervich :
August 5th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
seschub:
Quote any article you want. You’re citing theory, not real-life application. All one must do is personally experience the traffic circle in North America. Don’t forget to factor in that most cities employing traffic circles feel compelled to have the local garden club plant trees and massive floral displays in the center which make it nearly impossible to discern what other traffic in the circle is doing except to your immediate left and right. Now add the “in a hurry” driver, the text messengers and cellphone users, the make-up applying drivers, a pedestran or two, etc. BAM!
We’ve had a few installed where I live and work, and I find just the opposite. Fewer accidents, less time waiting in a line of cars, and more attention by drivers when approaching.
The greenery in the center is not high enough to obstruct one’s view across the circle.
It did take people a few months to get used to them. And we still get the occasional out of towner not familiar with them – these people will come to a complete stop, but that really doesn’t hurt anything.
If you are the first car at a red light, don’t rush into the intersection when the light changes. Give a couple of seconds and an extra look to make sure traffic with the red signal has stopped.
What were you doing during the red light? Contemplating your navel? Unless your view is blocked by a large vehicle beside you, you should already know whether cross traffic is going to stop and, if it is, be ready to go as soon as your light turns green.
If the light is amber, don’t speed ahead to “make the light.” Slow down and prepare to stop.
This is fine if you are far from the light when it turns yellow. What do you do when you are much closer? Stop with the ABS chattering and hope that the guy behind isn’t too close and is paying attention?
There are two kinds of red light runners. One kind enters the intersection while the light is yellow and exits after it has turned red. Although illegal, this is more annoying than dangerous. If you are paying attention to cross traffic while waiting for your own green, you can see them coming. The dangerous ones are those who enter the intersection after their light has turned red. By that time, no one expects them.
I blame red light running on increasingly long yellow lights and all-red phases. People adapt to these so-called “safety” measures, and factor them into their driving style… not only by running yellow and red lights, but also by anticipating green.
You want more vigilant drivers? Eliminate the yellow light entirely. The public education campaign would be entitled “Red means Red”, and it would sing a happy 1950s-style jingle while depicting horrific crashes with limp human bodies flying through windshields.
Tough but fair.
The whole “don’t speed to make yellow” needs adjustment for local drivers. Growing up in a fairly small city, no one tailgated through a yellow. Where I live now, slamming on the brakes can be quite hazordous. People here tailgate two deep quite often. Had one experience when I gunned through a left turn into a “T” right in front of a cop. Was a bit nervous, till I checked my mirror and saw two bozos right behind me.
Circles aren’t a complete replacement for lights, but they do a nice job where the traffic isn’t too thick (especially the new single-lane ones). It just takes a few months for most people to adjust.
First of all, isn’t it LEGAL to enter the intersection on a yellow? I remember being taught that if you are in the intersection prior to it being red, you have the right to finish through. I think exiting an intersection while it is red would fall under this if you entered when it wasn’t red.
Secondly, around where I live, the yellows are 4-5 seconds. Around where I work (Chicago) they are sub 3 seconds. I’ve timed them with a stopwatch when I was completely stopped.
In a car, if you slam on the brakes, you might get rear-ended. In a motorcycle, if you slam on the brakes, you might get DEAD.
Considering I normally commute on a motorcycle, I’d rather not have an EXTRA worry about getting killed by someone tailgating me when I try to avoid a ticket. Thank god that there is only one light on my way to the highway, and if I get off at the right exit, very few/no red light cameras.
A google search found out that this National Campaign to Stop Red Light Running in the past received funds from the photo enforcement industry and is “currently a public service initiative of Blakey & Agnew LLC.” It puts on such a nice face on scum bag ticket issuing companies and law firms. (sigh)
And nice planning on the late press release! (lol)
@don1967:
I blame red light running on increasingly long yellow lights
You do so without a shred of evidence supporting your position — there is, however, an enormous amount of high-quality evidence refuting it.
Maybe the best option is to just stay home and watch TV.
I blame red light running on increasingly long yellow lights and all-red phases. People adapt to these so-called “safety” measures, and factor them into their driving style… not only by running yellow and red lights, but also by anticipating green.
You want more vigilant drivers? Eliminate the yellow light entirely. The public education campaign would be entitled “Red means Red”, and it would sing a happy 1950s-style jingle while depicting horrific crashes with limp human bodies flying through windshields.
Tough but fair.
And this is easily the worst suggestion I’ve ever seen. It’s probably sarcastic but still ridiculous.
Not tough or fair but instead silly. Hopefully the poster is not a public official with the power granted to implement this idea.