The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication roofing the latest inquiry.

The car is a killer. In the U.S., 36,675 people died in traffic accidents in 2014. The year earlier, two.3 million people were injured in traffic accidents.

During the past decade, over 438 U.South. municipalities, including 36 of the 50 most populous cities, have employed electronic monitoring programs in society to reduce the number of accidents. Red light camera programs specifically target drivers that run red lights.

In a report I co-authored with economist Paul J. Fisher, we examined all police-recorded traffic accidents for three large Texas cities over a 12-year period – hundreds of thousands of accidents. We plant no show that red light cameras amend public safety. They don't reduce the total number of vehicle accidents, the total number of individuals injured in accidents or the total number of incapacitating injuries that involve ambulance send to a hospital.

Crimson low-cal cameras

In a red light photographic camera program, a camera is installed in a location where information technology can take photos or video of vehicles as they pass through the intersection. Urban center employees or private contractors then review the photos. If a vehicle is in the intersection when the light is red, so a ticket is sent to the person who registered the vehicle.

These programs aim to reduce cross-street collisions. The idea is that drivers, fearing a higher run a risk that they will be fined, volition be more likely to stop, lowering the number of angle, or "T-bone," accidents.

Testify clearly shows that camera programs are effective at decreasing the number of vehicles running red lights. In one study in Virginia, red light cameras reduced the number of total drivers running red lights by 67 percentage.

Nevertheless, cameras can accept contradictory effects on traffic condom. Some drivers who would have otherwise connected to proceed through the intersection when the low-cal is yellow or red will now try to stop. That means that the number of accidents caused by vehicles not stopping at a crimson light will probable subtract.

But the number of accidents from stopping at a carmine light – such every bit rear-stop accidents – is likely to increase. That'due south not an inconsequential side effect. Some drivers volition endeavour to stop, accepting a higher risk of a not-angle accident similar getting rear-ended, in order to avoid the expected fine.

The overall consequence of a camera program on vehicle accidents and injuries depends on the net affect of these 2 furnishings. Overall driver safe could increase or decrease.

Our study

In our study, we focused on Houston, a major U.S. city that operated a large camera plan at 66 intersections between 2006 and 2010.

One reason we chose Houston is to take advantage of the natural experiment that occurred when metropolis residents passed a referendum in November 2010 to ban the cameras.

We accessed detailed accident data on every traffic accident in Texas from 2003 to 2014 through a public records information request. The information included the accident's precise geocoded location; the type of accident; whether the driver ran a cherry calorie-free; and details on whatever injuries.

When the Houston cameras were removed, angle accidents increased by 26 percent. However, all other types of accidents decreased by 18 percent. Approximately i-third of all Houston intersection accidents are angle accidents. This suggests that the program'due south drawbacks canceled out its benefits.

Our study showed no evidence that cameras reduce the full number of accidents. We estimate that total accidents are reduced by a statistically insignificant 3 percent after the cameras are turned off.

Likewise, in that location'southward no evidence that the camera program reduced the number of traffic-related injuries or the likelihood of incurring an incapacitating injury.

The elevated number of traffic accidents at urban intersections is a serious public wellness issue. But our study shows that Houston'due south photographic camera program was ineffective in improving traffic safety. Electronic monitoring is not the solution.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original commodity.