Earlier this week we opined on an amendment to a transportation bill recently passed by the Florida Legislature that provides administrative reforms for traffic tickets derived from red-light cameras. We cautioned that more needed to be done in the future, such as requiring cities using red-light cameras to impose minimum yellow-signal times.
Well, the future is now.
Tampa TV station WTSP reported this week that in 2011 the Florida Department of Transportation quietly changed state law to allow local cities and counties to shorten yellow-light intervals — below federal recommendations — resulting in millions of dollars in additional red-light camera fines.
Shorter yellows mean quicker reds and shorter reaction times for drivers, which could lead to less-safe intersections — and which totally undercuts government’s rationale for installing red-light cameras, which is to improve safety.
Research has shown that reducing the time of a yellow light by a mere half-second can double the number of red-light camera citations. That creates more revenue from traffic tickets for cash-starved local governments.
Florida hardly is the first to tinker with yellow lights. Cities that have been caught shortening yellows to coincide with their adopting red-light cameras include Chattanooga and Nashville, Tenn.; Dallas and Lubbock, Texas; Springfield, Miss.; and Union City, Calif.
FDOT officials told WTSP that the change in yellows had nothing to do with maximizing revenues; it was just some housecleaning intended to get the state in line with federal guidelines. However, the TV station found Florida already was in compliance with federal guidelines. In addition, whereas the state decreased yellow times by a half-second or more, the U.S. Department of Transportation encourages longer yellow times at various intersections.
On its website on red-light running, the agency notes:
● Yellow times less than recommended by this equation result in more red-light violations and higher crash rates.
● Increasing yellow times that are shorter than recommended by this equation has been shown to reduce severe red-light related crashes. A one-second increase in yellow time results in 40 percent decrease in severe red-light related crashes.
WTSP points out that FDOT’s new rules didn't shorten every red-light camera intersection's yellow lights. In fact, because many cities and counties had yellow lights that were so far out of compliance, the new minimums actually increased some intervals. Still, although Tampa and Hillsborough County both increased some intersections in recent years, most intersections in their jurisdictions remain at the bare minimum on yellow times.
Rather than installing red-light cameras, which cost taxpayers money and create incentive to maximize revenues to justify the expenditures, why not just lengthen yellow lights to improve safety?
Lawmakers must grill the FDOT to find out exactly why it mandated shorter yellow times. Then, if this doesn’t create sufficient momentum to repeal the red-light camera law, they at least must change the statute to ensure there’s no more hanky-panky done to traffic lights that compromises safety for revenues.