Red Light Safety Cameras Can Save Lives

@saferroadsusa Running a red light can destroy a family. The National Coalition for Safer Roads wants you to join the conversation and share the word that red light cameras saves lives.

People are busy these days and as we travel on the roads we find that no one wants to wait anymore, not even for a red light. They figure that it won’t hurt to fly through the intersection, no one is watching and no one seems to care so I’ll just do it – that is, if I can get away with it.

However, someone is watching in communities that have the red light safety cameras. You may think it is an invasion of your privacy but so it the death of your loved one or even you if you get hit by a driver who doesn’t stop. Can you live with the injury or death of someone hanging over your head for the rest of your life if you are the person who flies through that intersection? Just like a drunk driver, people who don’t think of anyone but themselves and run red lights are just as dangerous.

We can’t control what other drivers on the road are doing or make people do the right thing so we must rely on the police and essential safety equipment, such as red light safety cameras, to help keep us safe.

No one every thinks it will happen to their family but it can happen to you.

Are you in a hurry to get somewhere? Think about what you are doing when you swerve around a car to get around them because you don’t want to wait or run a red light just because you want to save 5 seconds. Is 5 or 10 seconds really that important? Of course it isn’t and you really have to step back and realize what you are doing.

Each time we enter an intersection, our families are at risk of becoming the victim of an accident – whether on foot or in a vehicle. Red light safety cameras help to change driver behavior and reduce the risk to our loved ones, however many people are unaware just how valuable these cameras are to those on the road.

The National Coalition for Safer Roads has created a powerful video, showing just how tragic the consequences of running a red light can be.

You can find the National Coalition for Safer Roads on their website, Twitter and Facebook pages, for more information about this important initiative.

A recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that 113,000 people were injured and 676 were killed in crashes that involved red-light running in 2009 – two-thirds of the victims were pedestrians, bicyclists and occupants of vehicles hit by the red-light runners.

The study also showed that red-light safety cameras helped save more than 150 lives in 14 of the biggest U.S. cities from 2004 to 2008. Had the cameras been operating in all 99 U.S. cities with populations more than 200,000, more than 800 lives could have been saved.

Join the Coalition in spreading this important message. You may save the life of a loved one or spare a family the heartbreak of losing a life to a tragic intersection accident.