Red-light running is a significant factor in fatal traffic crashes; National Stop on Red Week is August 3-9

More than 4,077 crashes that occurred at signalized intersections in 2007 (a decrease from 2006 of more than 200) in Southeast Michigan could have been avoided by one simple action — stopping when the traffic light was red. Twelve of those crashes (five less than in 2006) were fatal. SEMCOG, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, along with the Federal Highway Administration, announce that August 3-9 is the 11th annual National Stop on Red Week.

"We at SEMCOG hope that these statistics help to drive home the fact that there are serious problems at lighted intersections," says Paul Tait, SEMCOG Executive Director. "We're all in a hurry these days, and there's a lot of construction and congestion, but please remember to stop when the light is red. And even when the light is green for you, make sure that the vehicle with the red light has actually stopped before proceeding through the intersection."

In 2007, 36,368 traffic crashes took place at signalized intersections in Southeast Michigan (down from 37,149 crashes in 2006); 11.2 percent of those (or 4,077) involved red-light runners. Of the 49 crashes that resulted in fatalities at signalized intersections, red-light runners were involved more than 24 percent of the time.

While the red-light running numbers are still high, they have been declining. Why? In Southeast Michigan, that is likely due to some recent engineering improvements:

• Increased signal retiming to optimize green time, reduce traffic delay, and promote progression on corridors reduces motorist frustration and their inclination to run red lights.
• Adding the all-red phase to a traffic signal (where all approaches have a red-signal displayed at the same time) reduces crashes resulting from red-light running.
• Providing better visibility by placing traffic signals on the far side of the intersection rather than over the middle of the intersection has reduced red-light running by up to 81 percent.

Additional information on the nation campaign can be found at www.stopredlightrunning.com.

SEMCOG is a regional planning partnership of governmental units serving 4.9 million people in the seven-county region of Southeast Michigan striving to enhance the region's quality of life.

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