TheAgitator.com
Traffic Cams, Ct’d…
Thursday, March 4th, 2004Glen Whitman doubts my assertion that lengthening yellow lights will stave off red-light runners. Glen suspects longer yellows might deter motorists for a bit, but that they’ll soon become acclimated to the longer yellow lights, and adjust their sense of risk appropriately.
It’s an intuitive theory. But the available evidence suggests otherwise. In 2001, the National Motorists Association persuaded the Virginia DOT to lengthen the yellow light at one particularly egregious intersection in Faifax by 1.5 seconds — from 4.0 seconds to 5.5. A camera installed at the intersection monitored the number of infractions. About 70 days after the yellow was increased, infractions fell from 52.1 per day less than one per day — or about 96%.
That was three years ago. NMA reports that infractions at that intersection have remained at about .80 per day in the three years since.
NMA also lists four studies (though, unfortunately, they aren’t available online) discrediting the notion that motorist adaptation offsets the safety benefits of longer yellows.
There’s also a 2003 study from two Texas A&M professors which concludes that while there may be some driver adaptation, a 1.5 second increase in yellow time generally produces about a 50% long-term reduction in red light running at the intersections in question.
Whatever the case, I can’t conceive of an argument where shortening yellows without warning — as Bethesda, Maryland did — could in any way improve the safety of motorists.
Still other studies have shown that other structural improvements (see page 3) at problem intersections, such as installing magnifying lenses on traffic lights, or allowing 1-2 seconds of “clearence reds” (where all lanes stay red for a moment), do more to prevent red-light runners than cameras.
More importantly, all of these alternate adjustments protect motorists without creepy surveilance systems and perverse adjudication processes. When D.C. and San Diego first installed cameras, for example, the private corporations running the cameras got a cut of every ticket issued. Not only that, but if you challenged a ticket, you were sent to a “court” run not by the city, but by the very corporation that gets money from every ticket issued!
When cities grow reliant on revenue from tickets, and the corporations running them profit from more red light runners, not less, you’ve incentivized your public officials to encourage law breaking. Any structural adjustment that might improve the safety of an intersection will by definition decrease the revenue generated by traffic fines.
Indeed, a 1995 study from Australia (the first country to implement traffic cameras on a large scale) suggests that cameras might increase accidents and injuries.
As D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams conceded (then later recanted after public outcry), cities install these cameras to generate revenue.
Protecting motorists is an ancillary concern, if it’s a concern at all.
The myth that people will continually adjust their tolerance to longer yellow intervals is just as mistaken as the myth that people will always exceed the posted speed by 5-10 mph.
These myths are ingrained by inconsistently posted speeds and traffic controls brought about by political pressure. They also highlight what traffic engineers have harped about for years: we want our signs to mean what they say, otherwise you’ll get confusion, disrespect and, well, the resultant collisions.
This seems like an issue that Cato could get behind. How come you guys aren’t suing?…or at least goading Ralph Nader or MADD or some other traffic nazi group into suing.
You da man, Radley. Excellent post.
I hate to nit-pick. But shouldn’t incentivize be “motivate?”
Jesuit prep school education - the scars are still fresh . . .
Longer Yellow Lights
Traffic Cameras vs Longer Yellow Lights
I wonder if longer yellow lights will still be effective when EVERY intersection has long yellow lights.
Even though they can feel a bit frustrating, I like the 1-2 second “clearance” red lights. I doubt they would reduce red light running, but I bet they would reduce accidents because stopped drivers won’t be flooring it when the green light appears.
Variable yellows would be the solution. You don’t know how long the yellow will be, so if you want to keep from getting a ticket, you will SLAM ON THE BRAKES at the first hint of amber. You might have hit that rare .25 second yellow.
I’ve been harping against automatic enforcement of traffic laws like this for years (most of my friends just tune me out now). Nice to see someone else take up the cause. Traffic enforcement = revenue collection for too many law enforcement agencies. I’m sure a lot of cops would rather be doing real police work.
What if they drastically shortened all the yellow lights? Wouldn’t that cause everyone to stop more often than run thru?
Where I live most yellows are pretty long (I’ll have to time them) and just about every major intersection has clearance reds. It has been this way for quite awhile (I moved here in ‘92 and it was in place then).
People STILL run reds.
I’m not talking about entering the intersection on yellow to make a left turn. I’m talking about entering after the red and not exiting until well after the clearance reds. Sometimes MULTIPLE CARS.
I have no problem setting up cameras at the intersections to catch them. Actually I’m more inclined to have snipers instead of cameras
Lee… Malvo? So they have internet access in prison now? Hmph.
It only makes sense when you apply logic to such a complicated situation as lights timed etc. Simply remember that Red means Stop, Green means Go and Yellow means Drive faster.
Traffic-cams vs. motorist safety
Beware contingency-fee law enforcement: Radley Balko (Mar. 4) has an update on the controversial ticketing machines discussed in our posts of Sept. 6, 2001, Apr. 8-9, 2002 and Apr. 19-21, 2002….
Installing camera’s may not do much good toward increasing safety, but it will certainly curtail the rash of lawsuits arising from intersection accidents. When two cars collide in an intersection, and both drivers allege the other had a red light, the net effect is that each will collect damages. Yet we KNOW only one of the cars had a red light. A camera would apparently make it tougher on trial lawyers. As for the privacy issue… same is moot. We do not ned camera’s which record pictures, we can use a number of technologies which will only record the movement of vehicles, whithout diplaying any photograghic images.
I drive in a jurisdiction in which the amber signals have been lengthened and there are clearance periods for red signals. The experience has been good initially, but as the drivers get used to the new timings, they do adjust. Running red lights continue to happen as drivers know that cross traffic really doesn’t have a green yet.
I think one of the reasons that lengthening the yellow at various intersections and the resulting decrease in ‘runs’ has more to with the RELATIONSHIP between the average speed on the road and the length of the yellow.
Standard posted speed for anything 2 lane and/or non-interstate in the Atlanta area is 45 MPH but the average speeds vary widely, relative to the road. On 4 lane, divided roads, the average can push 60 MPH while 2 lane suburban roads will be driven at a little over 50 MPH or less.
Maybe the thing to do would be to monitor average speeds at any intersection in question before changing the yellow and then monitor the effect the change has and try to determine an optimum speed to yellow lenght ratio.
Of course, that would mean that someone with the skills to do this would have to be hired and money appropriated, which I doubt could happen here. I think the last real traffic engineer passed through here with Sherman.
When I was in Seoul (S. Korea) some years ago, I noticed that there was no red-light running at all. Koreans regularly drive in parking lanes and make 3 lanes out of 2, but they hit the brakes on the yellow. I was told that this is because accidents at controlled intersections are adjudicated with a simple zero-tolerance rule: if you were in the intersection after the light changed, it’s your fault. Someone who has the green can zoom out and deliberately ram you - and you owe him a new car.
Combine this with Adam Soderstrom’s suggestion (cameras or other recording devices used only to prove the state of the light)…
I like the Simpson’s idea of doing away with the yellow altogether. People race to get through the intersection or stop quickly because they have no buffer zone to protect them.
Lights Schmights!
The only way to keep the stoopid rednek ina truk, the soccer mom in a SUV blabing away on a cell, the lowrider Nova full of high-school losers, or the old crone in a $30,000 Lexus from blowing the sign: AUTOMATIC TIRE SPIKES & INSTANT BARICADES!
We need to upgrade our traffic lights to what they have in Kazakhstan. There, the green light starts blinking a few seconds before the light turns to yellow. No one runs the red lights for fear of being run over.
Some of these comments are unbelievable! If you’re in your Yugo, and driving the speed limit on a warm dry day, sure, stopping within 4 seconds is no problem at all… but your little compact car isn’t the only type of vehical on the road. I would like to see some of you idiots stop in such a short time when you’re driving a semi with two trailers on a wet road just after someone with a major oil leak has travelled down the same lane. 5.5 seconds for a yellow sounds pretty reasonable to me, and people who drive with total disreguard for others should loose their right to drive.
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