Red Light Cameras Cost Benefit

Red Light Cameras Cost Benefit Analysis of Red Light Cameras The United States Department of Transportation published a study in 2005 which compared the costs of crashes in intersections with Red Light Cameras in order to determine exactly how cost efficient those camera systems are. The title, however, did refer more towards the safety issue involved. Researchers wanted to explore the efficiency in not only catching traffic violators, but also how Red Light Camera systems were affecting rear-end and right angle car crashed in and around intersections.

Also, researchers wanted to see if the cost of operating Red Light Camera systems is actually beneficial, in terms of the amount of money saved from preventing or decreasing certain types of accidents caused by violations which are caught on camera. The methodology used in this study was structured differently than previous cost analysis studies focusing in Red Light Cameras. This study aimed at examining the cost benefit analysis per each crash individually. This study mentioned several previous studies which had similar results. The methodology used by E.

Hauer in his 1997 work Observational Before-After Studies in Road Safety: Estimating the Effect of Highway and Traffic Engineering Measures on Road Safety, helped formulate the structure used in analyzing the data in this study. Researchers measured the cost of accidents in comparison with the cost of installing and operating these systems, as well as the price tag for accidents in intersections without Red Light Cameras. Researchers focused on one hundred and thirty-two locations and seven different districts all over the United States.

The seven districts were chosen in regards to "each jurisdictions ability to provide the required data," (Council 2005). Intersections without Red Light Camera systems were chosen as control groups in order to provide reference data for the empirical analysis of the study. Researchers measured the cost of accidents in intersections which had also spent money on installing Red Light Cameras in comparison with intersections without such systems.

By analyzing the amount in dollars various accidents caused in the two different groups, researchers could discern if these cameras were actually cost beneficial in comparison to the cost of accidents in intersections without Red Light Cameras. Researchers in this study used the Bayes before and after method of data analysis to discern conclusions about the raw data which they received. Result showed that more costly right angle crashes did decrease in areas which used Red Light Camera Systems.

However, there were a significant number of rear-end crashes in areas which used cameras in intersections. This increase of rear-end crashes raised the overall cost of implementing these systems in controlling traffic. However, the fact that they are less costly per incident that dangerous t-bone, or right angle crashes, makes the intersections with these symptoms more cost beneficial than similar intersections without red Light Cameras. Analysis of the recorded data did show that overall, there was a crash cost benefit seen in the implementation of Red Light Cameras.

Although there was an increase in cost of the damage involved within high levels of rear-end crashes,.