Red Light Camera News Do school buses and fuel trucks have enough time to stop safely at red lights?
Do school buses and fuel trucks have enough time to stop safely at red lights?
By Jennifer Gustavson | April 27, 2011 in Featured Stories, News
A few weeks after Suffolk County released a video showing school buses and fuel trucks caught running red lights, some legislators are calling for more research to evaluate the timing of yellow traffic lights and the ability for heavy vehicles to stop at red.
After a presentation on the county’s Red Light Camera Program at the Legislature’s meeting in Riverhead on Tuesday, Second District Legislator Jay Schneiderman said while he’s not making excuses for school buses and fuel trucks running red lights, he questions whether heavier vehicles have enough time to stop safely.
“Not all vehicles are created equally,” he said. “Clearly, there are a lot of heavy vehicles running those lights and I don’t know if it’s a statement that’s saying all of those heavy vehicle drivers are just flagrant violators of the law or maybe we need to look at that momentum issue.”
Kim Brandeau, the county’s chief budget examiner who gave the presentation, said the timing for each yellow light, which is determined by the state’s Department of Transportation, ranges between 3.9 seconds to 5 seconds. Typically, motorists travel at higher speeds on wider roads and therefore traffic lights remain yellow longer, she said.
But Mr. Schneiderman said because heavier vehicles gain more momentum than smaller vehicles he questions whether school buses and fuel trucks are able to stop safely at red while traveling between 55 and 65 mph.
“It would be interesting to hear from a traffic engineer [to find out] whether four seconds is enough time to stop a fuel truck,” he said.
Third District Legislator Kate Browning agreed and called for more research on the momentum issue.
“If you have a larger bus full of kids you need more time and distance to stop,” she said.
Ms. Brandeau said she plans to address the issue with the DOT.
“We have an unbelievable amount of school buses [running red lights],” she said. “The school bus companies are paying the fines.”
Since July 2010, the county has installed 100 red light cameras at 50 intersections along county roads, Ms. Brandeau said, adding that the program went live in its entirety last month. Over 110,000 violations have been issued since the program’s inception, she said.
Tickets are sent to the registered car owner caught running a red light — even if someone else is driving the car — along with a $50 fine and a link to a video of the driver running the red light. Points won’t be added to a driver’s license and there are no car insurance implications, county officials said.
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