Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog
Back in 1995, officials with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) launched the Stop Red-Light Running Program to help get drivers to stop at red lights and to increase enforcement efforts among officers around the country. A key to this program is the National Stop on Red Week.
This week-long enforcement campaign takes place during the first week of August. During this time, communities across the nation bring national visibility to this serious, and deadly, traffic problem while stepping up enforcement efforts against it.
Later in 1998, officials with the American Trauma Society (ATS) and DaimlerChrysler teamed up with the FHWA to push the program even further. Since then, the program has been piloted in a number of communities. And many of these communities saw a close to 20 percent reduction in red-light running offenses.
Our Boston car accident attorneys understand that red light cameras are used in more than 500 communities across the nation, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Unfortunately, Massachusetts has no state law mandating these cameras. Still, car accidents are the single most significant cause of preventable death and injury in the nation.. In 2007 in the U.S., almost 900 people were killed and close to 200,000 people were injured in accidents that involved red-light running.
These are costly accidents too, running the U.S. a tab of close to $15 billion each and every year.
Did you know that half of the fatalities resulting from red-light running are other motorists and pedestrians, not the guilty party? According to the National Campaign to Stop Red Light Running, this dangerous behavior is actually the leading cause of all urban automobile crashes.
According to a recent study from the FHWA, close to 100 percent of all surveyed drivers report that they feel that other drivers running red-lights are a major safety threat, and about a third of all people claim that they personally know someone injured or killed in a red-light running accident.
More than 50 Americans lose their lives in red-light running crashes every month. But somehow the people who get tickets because they have broken the law have been cast as the victims.
According to the most recent red-light running statistics, in 2011, there were close to 720 people who were killed and an estimated 120,000 who were injured in accidents that involved red light running.
An average of 3.2 red light violations occur per hour according to a 2003 study conducted by University Transportation Center for Alabama in 4 states at 19 different intersections. Fatalities caused by red-light running are increasing at more than three times the rate of increase for all other fatal accidents.
Violators were most likely to be younger males and were likely to have prior accidents or alcohol-impaired driving convictions. The red light runners also were more likely to be speeding or alcohol-impaired at the time of the crash and less likely to have a valid driver’s license.
If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in an accident, contact Jeffrey S. Glassman for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your rights. Call (617) 777-7777 today!
More Blog Entries:
Boston Youth Risk Survey Causes Concern Among Parents, Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog, May 18, 2013
857-DOT-INFO: Helping to Make Your Massachusetts Commute Safer, Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog, November 10, 2012