Debate on red light cameras in Florida hots up

University of South Florida researchers have published a report claiming that red light cameras do nothing to improve road safety, directly contradicting a national study by the Institute for Highway Safety that showed a major drop in fatal crashes in cities using red light cameras.
March 15, 2012 Read time: 1 min
3953 University of South Florida researchers have published a report claiming that red light cameras do nothing to improve road safety, directly contradicting a national study by the Institute for Highway Safety that showed a major drop in fatal crashes in cities using red light cameras.USF researchers Barbara Langland-Orban, Etienne Pracht and John Large in a report published this month in the peer-reviewed Florida Public Health Review say cities could do more to prevent red light running before resorting to cameras. They say the key is the length of the yellow light phase: extending it by just one second can virtually eliminate red light running.

Meanwhile, a National Coalition for Safer Roads (NCSR) survey, conducted by national research firm, FrederickPolls, has just been published and concludes that 72 per cent of Floridians support red light safety camera laws. Its website also features the latest study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety hotly contested by the researchers from USF.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Safer with sharrows?
    September 30, 2020
    Do bike lanes make cyclists safer? Yes and no, says John Anderson, director of technology at Smart Design*
    Read More
  • New report lays out concrete steps toward safer roads
    July 31, 2023
    Countries can reduce deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by flipping the traditional mobility hierarchy and adopting the Safe System approach. That is the finding of a new report from the Sustainable Mobility for All Initiative (SuM4All) presented at a press event of the ITF Summit held in Leipzig.
    Read More
  • Questions over effect of tough sentences for driving offenders
    June 17, 2014
    A UK academic claims that research shows higher prison sentences are unlikely to deter death by driving offences. University of Leicester professor Sally Kyd Cunningham suggests new laws from the UK Government could fail as a deterrent to crimes committed while driving. In the wake of the Government’s recent announcement of a comprehensive review of driving offences and penalties, an academic from the University of Leicester has argued that higher prison sentences could fail to act as a deterrent against de
    Read More
  • ERIC 2016: What shape the ‘Smart Road’?
    February 7, 2017
    Optimism about the future of highways worldwide abounded at the inaugural European Road Infrastructure Conference (ERIC) in Leeds, UK Around 500 delegates passed through the varied sessions during the three-day event at the Royal Armouries Museum in the northern English city of Leeds. They came away with many visions of what a motorway and road could look like. But what speakers at the event - co-organised by the Brussels-based European Union Road Federation (ERF) and the UK’s Road Safety Markings Ass
    Read More

Highlighted Content