Official Title: An Update on Red Light Camera Research: The Need for Federal Standards in the Interest of Public Safety

Authors: Barbara Langland-Orban, PhD, John T. Large, PhD, Etienne E. Pracht, PhD

This is a 2011 study by the University of South Florida College of Public Health on the potential effects of installing red-light camera systems. This study analyzes several previous studies as well as pointing to issues with why RLC systems are installed. Some new information is revealed that they have received form the Federal Highway Administration(FHWA) about their 2005 RLC Study, the fatalities are ignored in their results, and it turns out that the expected fatalities actually went up, and those fatalities were ignored in the calculation of total crash costs before and after installation of RLCs, resulting in a net increase in costs after RLCs were included. Other issues with the FHWA are mentioned, such as their lack of updating their own studies and mentioning other studies that they sponsored as they said they would do. Also mentioned are the issues with the red light camera industry influencing News media, stating: "special interests that profit from cameras have threatened to reduce or withdraw their advertising revenues if the news is not reported that RLCs provide a safety benefit". One of the conclusions reached in the USF report is, "The studies that integrated relevant independent variables in the analysis found red light cameras were associated with increases in crashes and injuries". One recommendation made in the report is that the federal standards for intersection engineering and signal timing from 2000 be reinstated and enforced in order to make intersections safer.

Click here to download study below (84k)

This is a brief 9 page report. There is some new data related specifically to other reports that have been released on RLCs. The conclusions are supported by the data supplied.