Chicago Sun-Times: In Chicago, red light means Go! for high number of drivers

Chicago drivers blow through red lights at a rate four times higher than the national average, according to the contractor hired by the city to install surveillance cameras to nail errant motorists.

"People in Chicago appear to run red lights more than elsewhere in the United States. The red-light running behavior we observed in Chicago was up to four times that in other states," said Bruce Higgins, president and chief executive of the Arizona firm Redflex Traffic Systems.

Higgins said he was stunned when 4,500 red-light runners were photographed during a month-long experiment at two accident-prone intersections at opposite ends of Chicago: Peterson and Western on the Far North Side and 55th and Western on the Southwest Side.

"It's a function of driver frustration and [lack of] enforcement," Higgins said. "Someone running a red light is saying, 'I'm more important than somebody going through on green.' Or they're being distracted by something like a cell phone. . . . Yellow-light phasing meets national standards. There would not appear to be traffic engineering issues, just driver behavior issues. A photo-enforcement program would be quite effective."

But the National Motorists Association blamed traffic engineering flaws at the two intersections--not bad driving--for the high rate of red-light running during the May experiment.

If Mayor Daley follows through on his plan to install cameras at up to 20 intersections, and slap red-light runners with $90 fines, it will only exacerbate the already unsafe conditions caused by signal timing flaws, the association claims.

"When confronted with the possibility of a red-light camera, people panic and slam on their brakes. They don't want to take a chance of running the red light. You end up with rear-end collisions. In one Carolina city, they ended up with a 100 percent increase in rear-end collisions," association spokesman Chad Dornsife said.

"For them to sign off on this is insanity. Red-light cameras have never been shown to reduce accidents anywhere in the world. It's wrong for any city. . . .They leave the unsafe condition in place and turn it into a profit center. It's essentially a Russian roulette with peoples' lives in order to profit."

Most Chicago intersections have yellow lights that last three seconds. That's more than enough time to stop on streets where the speed limit is 30 or 35 mph, officials said.

Lengthening the yellow light would only "promote bad driving" and encourage drivers to "take even more of a risk," said Transportation Commissioner Miguel d'Escoto.

D'Escoto acknowledged that red-light cameras have caused a "slight increase" in the number of rear-end collisions "in certain intersections in some cities." But he said the spike normally lasts only 30 days, then drops below where it was before cameras were installed.

"Some people obey the signal and stop, while others don't. They're used to running red lights and they hit" the vehicle in front of them, the commissioner said.

"How many times have you stopped, looked in your rear-view mirror and seen a guy behind you barreling down? [You say to yourself], 'Is that guy going to hit me or what? I'm following the law and I'm going to get rear-ended because somebody behind me thinks I'm going to be going for it.' It chills your blood to see people going through intersections two seconds after the light turns red. I'm not looking for a cash-cow. I'm looking to promote safety."

In a related matter, Higgins insisted that Redflex has the up- front capital it needs to finance Chicago's red-light enforcement program after obtaining $10.5 million in funding for its North American roll-out in late December.

"In the last 10 weeks alone, we've installed red-light enforcement systems at 20 intersections and commenced programs in three states: Arizona, California and Ohio. We've put up more than twice the total capacity our competitors were able to achieve. Our viable funding position as of today is sufficient to meet the needs of the program we're contemplating with the city of Chicago," Higgins said.

At a City Council meeting earlier this month, Daley introduced an ordinance empowering City Hall to begin mailing $90 tickets to motorists whose red-light running is captured by surveillance cameras positioned at up to 20 of Chicago's most dangerous intersections.

The intersections have not yet been identified.