THE NEWS TRIBUNE

Last updated: June 15th, 2008 01:24 AM (PDT)

As commuters who brave Canyon Road or Spanaway Loop during rush hour know, red-light running isn’t just a city problem.

Unincorporated Pierce County also has its share of drivers who recklessly careen through intersections, traffic signals be damned.

That’s why it’s encouraging to hear that Pierce County government might be having a change of heart about red-light cameras.

Last year, a county traffic official told The News Tribune not to expect to see any red-light cameras go up in unincorporated Pierce County anytime soon. Public works staff had concluded that the cameras probably wouldn’t do much good.

Sheriff Paul Pastor didn’t share that opinion, and now he’s received the green light from a County Council committee to draft an ordinance to implement a red-light camera program.

Pastor insists his motivation is safety, not revenue. The cameras are expected to generate a chunk of change – $670,000 a year to be exact. But all that estimate proves is that red-light running is a real problem the county can’t ignore.

Critics of red-light cameras often cite statistics that purport to show that cameras make intersections more dangerous, not less. Here are some actual studies that prove them wrong:

• The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety put Philadelpia’s red-light camera program under the microscope last year. It found that extending yellow lights and installing cameras both helped reduce red-light violations, but the cameras by far had the biggest effect.

• Two cities in Iowa have experienced not only a 40 percent to 90 percent reduction in the number of collisions attributed to red-light running but also a 20 percent to 44 percent reduction in all crashes at those intersections with cameras, according to a 2007 study by Iowa State University researchers.

• After Virginia Beach, Va., dropped its red-light camera program in 2005, red-light running violations more than tripled.

We could go on. Red-light cameras make intersections safer, and they free up police from routine traffic enforcement to perform other duties. They are worth a try in unincorporated Pierce County.

Originally published: June 15th, 2008 01:24 AM (PDT)