Crashes Down At Western Springs RLC Intersections?
Village officials in west suburban Western Springs say crashes are down at two intersections where red light cameras were installed back in 2009 according to The Doings newspaper.
Crashes dropped at the intersection of Ogden and Wolf Road from an average of 23 in the three years before 2009, to 11 per year since May 2009.
At the village’s other RLC located at 55th and Wolf Road, crashes dropped from seven before the cameras to four in 2009 and just one in 2010, after cameras were installed.
The Illinois Department of Transportation has not released 2011 crash data.
One thing the story and village officials ignored in their analysis is that IDOT changed the way crashes are documented back in 2009–the year the cameras were installed in Western Springs.
As of January 1, 2009 accidents that resulted in less than $1,500 in damages were not reported as crashes. Before the threshold change, any crashes resulting in $500 or more were reported.
So while the superficial data from Western Springs is indeed promising as crashes seem to be declining, it is possible some, most or all of the declines could be attributed to this reporting change.
Here’s the full story, “Data may show cameras make intersection safer.”
(I don’t know if my earlier post took, so this is a repost of what I roughly said).
Here is that link on IL Dot. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-12-19/news/ct-met-red-light-money-20101219_1_suburban-intersections-broadside-collisions-cameras Quote: But the state raised the minimum level to report a property damage accident from $500 to $1,500, reducing the number of reported crashes statewide by 28 percent and potentially skewing the results, officials said.
Also WHY AREN’T they bringing up HOW MANY CRASHES WERE RLR CAUSED (not angle which can count NON RLR crashes). A RLC can only “stop” RLR crashes. Even that I don’t buy given this collection of videos showing RLC FAILING TO STOP ANY CRASH! http://www.banthecams.org/Red-Light-Camera-News/videos-that-show-rlc-will-not-work-they-didnt-stop-these-crashes-where-they-were-installed.html
Crashes that result in a “possible injury” are always included in Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) data, regardless of property damage threshold.
The Western Springs police will have the full data set so you can see if any crashes are not included in the IDOT data set.
How far in advance of the intersection are they measuring? This has a pronounced “impact” on the numbers, an old camera vendor ploy. The closer they measure from the lower the numbers.
If Senator Duffy’s “One Second for Safety” bill to require one more second of yellow at camera intersections was not blocked in the House by pro-camera forces interested only in the revenue, the whole red light camera scam would collapse. With adequate yellow intervals, there are not enough straight through violations to pay the costs of the cameras and they get removed.