Drivers adapt to red-light cameras

Written by Jim Walsh

TRENTON — A pilot program for red-light cameras in New Jersey appears to be changing drivers’ behavior, state officials said Monday, noting an overall decline in traffic citations and right-angle crashes.

The Department of Transportation also said, however, that rear-end crashes have risen by 20 percent and total crashes are up by 0.9 percent at intersections where cameras have operated for at least a year.

The agency recommended the program stay in place, calling for “continued data collection and monitoring” of camera-monitored intersections.

The department’s report drew immediate criticism from Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, who wants the cameras removed. He called the program “a dismal failure,” saying DOT statistics show the net costs of accidents had climbed by more than $1 million at intersections with cameras.

“Any rational person reading this document would conclude that the program has failed and it’s time to pack it in,” O’Scanlon said.

In South Jersey, intersections in Cherry Hill, Deptford, Glassboro, Gloucester Township, Monroe and Stratford have red-light cameras.

The five-year program began in December 2009.

The DOT’s report noted that two intersections in Newark have been part of the camera program for two years, and that 24 others in six communities have been recording violations for at least one year. At the Newark sites, the report said, crashes in the latest year were down by 57 percent from the “pre-camera year,” with decreases of 86 percent for right-angle collisions and 42 percent for same-direction crashes.

It said the number of citations issued at the Newark intersections fell by 85 percent over the two-year period. “While there is no expectation that citations will drop to zero, there is an expectation that driver behavior will change ... and these locations appear to be fulfilling these expectations.”

But the DOT also said the statistics from Newark “are still too limited to draw any definitive conclusions about the pilot program at this time.”

And O’Scanlon argued the program has changed drivers’ behavior in a negative way.“What we are doing is making people paranoid — causing them to slam on the brakes at the slightest hint a light might change, or deciding to fail to make even an absolutely safe right turn on red,” he said.