CLEVELAND — This week, authorities are calling out those red light runners as National Coalition for Safer Roads promoted Stop on Red Week.
The Federal Highway Administration created the campaign in 1995 to educate the public and bring awareness to the dangers of running red lights.
In 2019, AAA conducted a telephone survey that reported 86% of drivers agreed it’s extremely dangerous to speed through a red light. However, 31% of those surveyed said they did it in the last 30 days.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 846 people were killed in crashes that involved a driver running a red light in 2019.
Over half of those killed were pedestrians, bicyclists and people in other vehicles who were hit by the red light runners. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that one study showed while longer yellow reduced red-light violations by 36%, adding camera enforcement further cut red light running by another 96%,
Drivers who run red lights were also more likely than other drivers to be male, younger, and to have prior crashes or alcohol-impaired driving convictions.
The red light runners also were more likely to be speeding or alcohol-impaired at the time of the crash and less likely to have a valid driver's license.
Friday is the most dangerous day for drivers running red lights.
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