Why red-light cameras may be a good thing despite our mistrust

Commentary from Jason Rantz heard on KIRO Radio.

Not many people like red-light cameras. There’s this feeling by a lot of folks, even the ones who don’t get tickets, that the cameras are less about safety and more about raising money for the district or city or whatever budget that red-light ticket is actually feeding.

The good news, for some, is that there are some communities that are starting to abandon the red-light traffic cameras. Locally, Auburn recently got rid of their red-light cameras.

According to The Seattle Times, “Auburn dumped its 8-year-old program last month after finding that fewer drivers were being ticketed after the cameras were installed. Though drivers were changing their behavior, the cameras had no recognizable effect on collisions.”

But not all cities locally are dropping them. Take a look at Bellevue, they’re not dropping them. They’re actually doubling down on the use of red-light cameras. According to the Times, “The number of speeding and red-light camera infractions decreased from 22,798 in 2010 to 11,956 in 2013, according to police.”

That’s a huge drop, from almost 23,000 to 12,000. As a consequence, the city is actually adding three more red-light cameras this week. They are also going to put some in a school zone area.

That seems like the right approach. In this case, they’ve clearly seen a drop in the amount of people who are breaking the law and they’re doubling down. That seems like the right way to deal with the cameras.

Auburn dumped the program in part because either it’s working in that people have already changed their behavior and they’re not running a red light, or because it’s not generating money anymore, they’re not giving out as many tickets.

That seems to be the problem with how this type of technology is actually being used. Bellevue sees not getting any budget boost from these tickets as a good thing. They seem to be in it purely for the safety aspects. I support red-light cameras for the safety aspect.

The truth is even if you do hate those red-light cameras because you distrust the motives behind them, which I do also, if we’re being totally honest, they do seem to change behavior, right? They change how we drive.

I think the very presence of these cameras actually make us change our driving behaviors for the better. There is almost nothing worse than driving by one of those lights and you’ve got a yellow, you’re going through and you thought you saw a flash. Even if you don’t get the ticket, you’ll probably think twice before chancing a ticket again. That red-light camera is a reminder to drive appropriately.

And if they’re changing behavior for the better, for the safety of you and me, our friends and family as we drive down the streets, isn’t that ultimately a good thing?

Commentary from Jason Rantz heard on KIRO Radio.