Red Light Cameras Cutting Down on Crashes

Nearly 40,000 drivers a year are caught running red lights in Raleigh and Cary.

At intersections with cameras, however, police find that drivers are doing better at obeying the law.

In Cary, traffic cameras catch close calls on tape along with blatant violations and routine ones. Police say the cameras—and the fact that people know about them—have helped reduce the number of wrecks.

“During the first year a red light camera is in operation, you will have a slight increase in rear-end collisions, but then that levels off and goes back down to the old levels before the camera went in,” said Chris Davis of the Cary Police Department.

The big benefit comes when the number of T-bone crashes goes down, reducing serious injuries and deaths.

Cary police have found that they are writing fewer citations for light violations at the camera intersections than they wrote before the new technology was installed.

In Raleigh, too, police report that serious wrecks and citations are down at all 13 of their red light camera locations.