New federal report on red light cameras raises new issues
Posted - 6/15/2010 at 7:28AM

TUCSON - A new development in a News 4 investigation we brought you over the timing of Tucson's yellow lights at photo enforced intersections.

A few months ago we tested some of the lights at Tucson intersection ourselves and found that those lights were shorter than the 3-second standard, but the Tucson Department of Transportation said we were wrong and they weren't going to make any changes.

Now, a national report has surfaced, suggesting the city could do more to keep you safe.

The report we got our hands on was given to the U.S. House of Representatives. It talks about a number of red light camera issues, particularly yellow light times in states all over the country.

Mark Spear is a systems engineer who has been studying red light issues for years. He said Arizona is one of the only states in the country to have a three second standard. He said, "It's been consistently set in many many states from California to Georgia at 4 seconds of yellow at the minimum."

And he said just that one extra second has proven to make a huge difference. Spear said, "40% reduction in accidents is what the study shows just by increasing the yellow by one second."

At a recent meeting Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik made a motion to add a second to the yellow lights at the intersections where there are cameras, but the transportation director urged against it and there was no second motion.

We took the study to the transportation director to see why he went against the idea of adding a second to the yellow lights at photo enforced intersections, if studies show a reduction in accidents but he refused to do an interview. So we took it directly to the council.

Council member Shirley Scott said, "There's a flaw in the argument that it will help. I think if you give an extra second to certain intersections that leads to confusion."

And Scott said that confusion only makes an already dangerous intersection even worse. She said, "Instead of slowing down and not entering the intersection they might do the opposite which again goes back to safety."

Scott adds the city will continue to monitor national reports like this one and make adjustments if needed, but for now the three second yellow light will stand.

The report also points out when California added a second to the yellow light it reduced the number of tickets by 53%.
 

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