The May 15, 2010 edition of the Highland Park Highlander reports that the City is moving forward on installing two red light cameras at the intersection of US41 and Park Avenue West. It is puzzling to see our city begin a red light camera program at such a highly-trafficked intersection, especially at a time when the effectiveness of red light cameras has been called into question.
The Chicago Tribune has run a number of investigative stories over the last year that cast doubt on whether red light cameras are effective at improving traffic behavior. In December, the Tribune reported that at half of suburban intersections where such cameras had been installed, the accident rate had actually increased. In Schaumburg, village officials cancelled a red light camera program, with the data gathered actually demonstrating that there was no accident and traffic safety issue at an intersection where one had been presumed to exist. Even the Federal Highway Administration has published research which shows that rear-end crashes increase at intersections with red light cameras.
All of which calls into question why Highland Park would install red light cameras on US-41 southbound at Park Avenue West and Park Avenue West westbound at US41. The type of traffic that passes through this intersection is simply at odds with what red light cameras are supposed to do. Drivers on southbound US41 could be moving at speeds of 50 MPH or higher, yet will now face another criteria in their decisions whether to proceed through the intersection or stop from high speed. Worse, Highland Park’s selected red light camera vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems, doesn’t even bother to issue citations to tractor-trailers, because the license plate on the rear rarely matches up to the actual driver or cab owner. So all those trucks barreling down Skokie Highway aren’t even in the line-of-sight for the proposed new camera.
Meanwhile, Park Avenue West’s westbound traffic has to deal with a poorly-timed stoplight sequence, starting with the Target/Staples exit drives. I have personally tried to convince Highland Park’s traffic engineers that a minor change in timing would allow more drivers to pass safely through the westbound Park Avenue intersection at US41, especially those who want to make the southbound turn onto the highway. Anyone who watches those intersections for just a few minutes can see the lights are out of sequence. Instead of solving the timing problem, the city and state recently installed countdown pedestrian crossing signals there, at an intersection where I’ve never actually seen a pedestrian walk across the street. I certainly wouldn’t want to cross six lanes of highway traffic, even with the light.
Of all the intersections in Highland Park where the city could consider red light cameras, experimenting with one of the highest-volume intersections seems like a recipe for disaster. The city newsletter indicates (without statistics) that the accident rate at this intersection is high. This is not much of a surprise, considering that it is the literal end of the Edens Expressway northbound and the last stoplight southbound. Surely, though, there are better ways to engineer more safety into that intersection than to add an impetus for drivers to make bad decisions?
Thanks for your comment. You assert that we need the red light camera in Highland Park because it will reduce fatalities — but do not provide data on fatalities at that intersection (I am not sure of the data, but my personal recollection is that there have not been any since the Edens reconfiguration). The City of Highland Park has also not provided specific statistics regarding this intersection (Chief Shafer and I have been in correspondence since this article appeared online).
If red light cameras do not reduce the number of collisions (see your quoted text), then what is the point? What are the statistics on near-misses — how do we know there are more or less of those?
This is already a complicated intersection, and adding red light cameras and out-of-town travelers to the mix adds more to the complexity. Chief Shafer reports that Gurnee has a red light camera on US41, so this isn’t the first one. But I believe the questions are still unresolved as to the efficacy, and this doesn’t seem to me to be the place to experiment.
Dear Ed Brill,
The facts are clear regarding red light cameras. All across the country, townships and municipalities have seen drastic declines in fatal crashes at intersections that are monitored by red light cameras. These cameras are put in place to keep the average commuter safe in their own vehicle without worrying if someone is going to decide whether to proceed through the intersection or stop from high speed. Its people with this mentality, that it is sometimes okay to run a red light, who make the streets unsafe. The rules of the road clearly state that red means stop. Any person who has been through the most basic drivers education course understands this.
When keeping the public safe from reckless drivers, there are no limitations in my eyes as to what measures are to be taken in order to save even one human life. The argument that it is okay to run a red light if you are driving too fast to stop yourself in time on the 50 mph highway is absolutely ludicrous! Leave 5 minutes earlier for your commute, or slow down when you seen a red (or yellow, for that matter) light ahead, and you wont have to worry about speeding through one of the most dangerous intersections in Highland Park. It doesnt matter if youre late to work if youre dead.
It is exactly because it is a six-lane highway that you need to stop drivers from running red lights to save the lives of others. Furthermore, according to the website truthaboutcars.com, Schaumburg doesnt actually show any increase in collisions due to the addition of red-light cameras:
In 2008, the intersection had seen twenty-six accidents, none of which were related to signal violations or red light running. With the camera active in the first six months of 2009, there were twelve accidents, at least two of which were rear end collisions in the right-turn lane and one that may have involved red light running. Overall, only 1.9 percent of accidents in Schaumburg last year were in any way related to intersection traffic signals.
Analysis indicates that there has been no significant change in signal-related crashes between pre and post system deployment, Police Chief Brian Howerton concluded.
Its not the actual results of crashes we are looking at here; its the statistic nobody sees: crashes that have been avoided. You dont see statistics of how much safer people are driving because theyre aware of the new camera installations. The fact of the matter is, red light cameras save lives. I would rather get in a rear-end fender bender than be T-boned in the middle of an intersection by some reckless driver who disregards the rules of the road. Thats just my opinion which happens to also be backed by factual statistics:
According to data provided by Kingsport (Tenn.) police, 2008 saw 317 fewer crashes with injuries within the city than 2007. There were three or fewer T-bone crashes at seven of the intersections outfitted with red light cameras.
There were no T-bone crashes in 2008 at the intersection of Stone Drive at Eastman Road, which saw three such wrecks in 2007.
Please rethink your stance on a lifesaving technology
-outraged and baffled