Delonte Fung
The New York City Department of Transportation plans to renew and expand the current red-light camera legislation from 150 to 1,325 intersections. The current legislation is set to expire in December 2024; however, with the success of the program, the D.O.T. plans to extend it to 2030 and increase the number of intersections that have active red-light cameras. The D.O.T. claims, “On average, intersections with red light cameras experienced a nearly 13 percent decline in right-angle, or T-bone, injury crashes. The program has also proven to change driver behavior and deter them from repeatedly running red lights; in 2023, 94 percent of vehicles caught running a red light received no more than one or two violations.”
Despite the benefits, there is some backlash from some who think the program is a cash grab and just another way for the city to tax drivers.
Fewer people running red lights means fewer pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists getting killed or injured in red-light-related accidents. The NYC D.O.T reports that “the average daily number of red light running violations issued at camera locations has declined by 73% since the Program began in 1994” and “there was a 65% reduction in deadly right-angle (or T-bone) crashes at intersections with red light cameras.”. Since the introduction of the program in 1994 there has been a decline in daily violations, from an average of 30.8 violations per camera, when the program first launched, to as little as 8.18 violations per camera in 2023.
However, not everyone believes that safety is the city’s primary motivation to renew and expand the program. From the program’s debut in 1994 to June 2023, the city has profited $363,634,740. from fines issued from red-light camera violations.
The only punishment for running red lights is to pay the city $50 every time you commit this violation with no other alternative to deter drivers from running red lights. “As the Program is currently designed, there are no increased penalties for repeated violations. The registered owner simply pays the $50 fine each time they receive a violation,” states the NYC DOT annual report.
Another point of conflict is the length of the yellow lights. “Most yellow lights in New York City last 3 seconds as well, an interval that many believe to be a very short window in which to stop,” states the American Safety Council. “As a comparison, Texas requires a 4.7 second interval.” Due to the shortness of New York’s yellow lights, “opponents call the program no more than a money grab and alternate tax on drivers,” ABC7 reports. This problem is not exclusive to New York, however. The American Safety Council reports that “in Chicago, for example, the yellow light length is just 3 seconds, which has prompted outrage and claims that the city’s traffic signals are unsafe and unfair” and that “Anger over red light camera tickets in Florida prompted a reexamination of yellow lights.” In places with shorter yellow lights like these, some drivers have gotten red-light camera tickets dismissed because of insufficient yellow light timing.
The NYC D.O.T maintains, “The purpose of the New York City Program is to deter motorists from running red lights” and that “the yellow phase is timed to provide drivers who are driving at the prevailing speed the opportunity to either continue at a consistent speed through the intersection before the light turns red, or to come to a complete stop before entering the intersection.” They also counter the implication that the program is a cash grab by stating on their website, “Because the actual driver of a vehicle that receives the violation is unknown, violations are sent to the registered owner and there are no points attached to a driver’s license for a violation” and “Cameras do not capture an image of the driver, only of the vehicle, which means that no points are received on a driver’s license. The $50 violation is issued to the registered owner of the vehicle, who is responsible for paying it.”
Current state laws limit red-light cameras to 150 out of the 13,700 signalized intersections in the city. It has been three decades since New York City debuted the country’s first-ever red-light camera program. There are currently 150 intersections scattered throughout the city that have red-light cameras, covering roughly 1% of all intersections in the city. When red light cameras were first introduced around the city in 1994, an immediate and rapid decrease in drivers running red lights was observed. In the first four years of the program, there was a 38 percent drop in red light running at the first 18 intersections. Due to the program’s success, over the next 15 years, the city expanded the program eight times, most notably in 2005 to 100 intersections and then again in 2009 to the current 150 intersections. As the number of red-light camera locations has increased, the number of people running red-lights continued to decrease. This provided the city with “clear evidence that the Program was working as intended and providing an impactful tool in the City’s arsenal to combat dangerous driving” the D.O.T claimed in the NYC DOT annual report.
The D.O.T. is trying to make changes during the renewal and expansion of the program, for instance by cracking down on repeat offenders: “The legislation would expand the camera program from 1 percent of the city’s intersections to 10 percent of intersections that have a traffic signal. A companion bill would require the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend the vehicle registration of vehicles that receive five or more red-light camera violations in a 12-month period.”
