Rear-end accidents up at Redmond red light camera intersections

Red light camera opponents have two rally cries: It’s not about safety it’s about the money; and the cameras cause more accidents than they prevent.

While the police will never comment about that first, there is some evidence to back up the opponents claims about accidents.

Some studies have shown rear-end accidents at red light camera intersections have gone up nation-wide by more than 20 percent. The latest stats from Redmond seem to prove that increase.

There were three more accidents at the intersections with cameras in the first six months of this year, compared to last year. Two of those accidents were rear-end collisions caused by drivers following too closely when the other cars stopped quickly in front of them.

“They stopped short of the light because they indicated they didn’t want to get a ticket,” Redmond Police Commander Shari Shovlin told MyNorthwest.com. “It’s not a shock to us. We did expect that might occur.”

But Shovlin said she doesn’t think three more accidents is an indication of any trend about the cameras and their safety.

The cameras have generated $567,859 in Redmond this year. Most of the money went to the courts to handle the cases, but the City of Redmond did make $66,578.

One trend she can report is that violations are going down at the intersections. “Which is what we want,” she said. “If we were violation free that would be a perfect world.”