I almost hate to point this out, but there are hardly any red-light cameras in Georgia anymore.
Please, fellow motorists, apply your brakes anyway.
A decade ago, the silent sentries looked like the wave of the future. Cameras were sprouting at dozens of dangerous corners to catch those who saw red lights as mere suggestions, not government mandates.
In 2008, at the program’s height, 25 jurisdictions in Georgia had a total of 64 intersections with red-light cameras. But in 2013 just eight governments had 22 cameras.
I bring this up because Gwinnett County commissioners voted Tuesday to continue the county’s program, which includes cameras at three intersections: Buford Drive and Mall of Georgia Boulevard, Beaver Ruin Road and Steve Reynolds Boulevard, and Pleasant Hill Road and Club Drive.
The passage didn't come easy, the initial vote was 2-2, and Chairman Charlotte Nash had to break the tie. Running a red light will still bring the vehicle's owner (the camera doesn't know the driver's name) a $70 reminder of something we learned in kindergarten: Red means stop, dummy.
Police Chief Butch Ayers lobbied commissioners, telling them the corners with cameras have seen significant drops in both accidents (down between 56 and 80 percent) and injuries.
“With the camera, people are not trying to beat the light,” he said.
It makes sense, right? All of us have watched some fool blow through an intersection, either racing to beat a “pink” light or, worse, oblivious to a full-on red.
But we also know that a red light, or even the added possibility that a camera is up there, does not actually stop a car. One has to apply the brakes.
I know first hand. My wife an I have had two Dodge Grand Caravans totalled (yes, two) by people running red lights. Cameras would have prevented neither. One was a doctor on her phone heading to work. The other was a young German guy who insisted he was confused by Atlanta. Neither had a clue about the light.
Yeah, I understand, my experience is anecdotal, so I’ll get to the studies in a minute.
Proponents always insist that cameras are about safety, not money. But when the state Legislature added at least a second of time to yellow lights starting in 2009, revenue plummeted and cameras started disappearing.
Decatur, which had the area’s first such camera, was also among the first to pull the plug when the change came. “It got to the point where the operating cost exceeded the revenue,” said City Manager Peggy Merriss. She said the camera at Scott Boulevard and Clairemont Road helped cut accidents, but the city had to make hard choices in the midst of a recession, so the camera blinked off.
When Roswell did away with cameras in 2012, Steve Acenbrak, the city’s transportation director said, “When you look at the number of crashes before the cameras were installed compared to after, they’re virtually the same.”
AJC’s PolitiFact checked his statement out and gave him, a “mostly true,” noting that accidents at one intersection remained virtually the same but the other had a slight decrease.
Scott Zehngraff is the traffic engineer at Georgia DOT who oversees the program permitting local jurisdictions to put up red-light cameras. He said such devices help modify bad behavior. “It’s like if you get a speeding ticket, you’re a little more conscious of it afterward,” said Zehngraff. “We are seeing a reduction in crashes, or we wouldn’t approve them.”
A 2005 study by the Federal Highway Administration, said to be the most definitive, “showed that (red-light camera) systems do indeed provide a modest aggregate crash-cost benefit.”
The short-hand version of this is that “angle” crashes (AKA T-bones) decrease, but rear-enders increase as one suddenly cautious driver slams on his brakes, only to get hit from behind by someone late for supper.
Greg Mauz, of the Best Highway Safety Practices Institute, says research shows that fatal wrecks at intersections come mostly from drunks, emergency vehicles and inattentive drivers. He said “it’s an insult to the intelligence of American drivers” to think motorists will blow through red lights at intersections without a camera and stop when one is there.
Those racing to beat a yellow light — drivers who are conscious that the light is turning red — will almost never hit those at the crossroad, because intersections usually have a 2-second period where all lights are red, he said.
“If it’s all about safety, add a second to yellow lights like Georgia did,” Mauz said.
The legislation to prolong yellow lights not only helped curtail the number of red-light cameras in Georgia, it helped propel its author, Barry Loudermilk, to Congress. Car and Driver magazine even gushed: “Meet the Guy Who Helped Take Down Georgia’s Red-Light Cameras.” I think Loudermilk was its centerfold.
During his election campaign this summer, the conservative Republican listed curbing red-light camera “abuse” among his top achievements as a state legislator. Then he handily pounded opponent Bob Barr, who could only boast that he led the impeachment effort against Bill Clinton.
Money does talk. After the one second of yellow time was added, the value of citations issued at intersections with red-light cameras dropped from $14 million in 2008 to $4.6 million two years later. It’s now down to $3 million.
Tommy Hunter, one of the two Gwinnett commissioners to vote against the cameras, likes the “human element” of traffic enforcement. He’s right. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy an unsmiling cop pointing a flashlight in your window?
“I don’t care what anyone says; they were originally set up as revenue generators,” said Hunter, a civil engineer by trade who has worked as a traffic engineer.
The cameras “are controversial,” he added. “And if they’re not, they will be if you’re caught.”
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