Insurance companies have a stake in Photo Red
by James Simpson

Potomac News
Friday, January 16, 2004

Photo Red needs to be completely eliminated. I hope that a bright, gifted representative will one day present legislation to completely outlaw Photo Red in Virginia.

After my last column on the issue, one reader in Fairfax indicated that my "bitterness" over Photo Red was due to my loss against Delegate Michele McQuigg, R-51st District, in a race for the House of Delegates two years ago. In the same column I protested several other pieces of legislation submitted by representatives against whom I never ran - what would be the explanation for those?

Perhaps the author of this letter to the editor hadn't considered this more likely scenario: I am not upset because McQuigg beat me, I ran because I was upset with McQuigg's agenda. Legislation like Photo Red is a primary example.

Another reader in Woodbridge implied that my objection to Photo Red may stem from a fear of being caught running a red light. This has nothing to do with my opposition to cameras at intersections. I stop when a light turns yellow. Fortunately, up to now I have not been rear ended when stopping for a yellow... but there have been several close calls.

We are on a slippery slope when it comes to automated traffic violation ticketing systems. Not a "theoretical" slippery slope, but one that is quite real. In Washington, D.C., vehicles are now placed on the street that have cameras mounted in their grills to ticket speeders.

I can't help but wonder how long it will be until one of our representatives considers using infrared cameras to determine if anyone in Virginia is breaking a sodomy law? I guess they would propose legislation titled Photo Bed. Hey ... don't laugh. Some localities in the U.S. have already used such technology to search homes that might be growing marijuana under heat lamps.

All kidding aside though, the most interesting response to my column came from Nancy Rodrigues, Executive Director of DRIVE SMART Virginia. I had never heard of this organization, so I decided to do a little investigating. It turns out that the Board of Directors is made up of 13 different insurance companies.

It is only a matter of time until a change is being called for that allows points to be assessed for those caught on Photo Red, as has been done in other states throughout the U.S. And who will be the beneficiary of such a measure? You guessed it, insurance companies. They increase premiums for several years on customers who lose points from Photo Red infractions. So as far as I am concerned, Drive Smart Virginia has an ulterior motive.

But for the sake of argument, let me address some of the objections stated by Ms. Rodrigues in her letter. Much of my information comes from a week-long series researched by Matt Labash, senior writer for the Weekly Standard, and printed in April of 2003. Unfortunately I don't have the time or money to do this type of research myself.

First Ms. Rodrigues states that "Red light cameras increase road safety and that is a fact well documented."

In a study mentioned in Mr. Labash's article, at least some (and I am willing to bet most) studies that are conducted of "crashes" at red light camera intersections did not take into account rear end accidents that occurred as far back as 100 feet before the intersection. In the study cited, when these accidents were included the number increased from 18 to 156.

Secondly she states that "Photo Red is about safety, not revenue." and "... a comprehensive review of proposed intersections, which examines crash and violation rates and includes an engineering safety analysis that addresses signal timing and other issues is required."

A quick search on Google led me to a State Farm list of Virginia's top five most dangerous intersections based on crashes in 1998. Four are in Northern Virginia.

Three of these four intersections in Northern Virginia (the other is in Newport News) don't have Photo Red - Va. 123 and Braddock Road; Backlick Road and Braddock Road; and U.S. 50 and Stringfellow Road. These are in Fairfax where Photo Red is authorized, but apparently not used.

The fourth one was Va. 28 and U.S. 29 has been redesigned as an overpass.

In the same State Farm press release, one of the proposed changes to make these intersections safer is "Imposing all-red traffic signals for one to two seconds." Nevertheless, Ms. Rodrigues claims that there is no "cookie cutter formula" such as "resetting the yellow light times."

However there are Photo Red lights at intersections such as the south bound lane of U.S. 28 and Greens Trail Boulevard, which surprisingly has a high volume of traffic on a downhill approach with a relatively short yellow light. Makes for a nice revenue collection point.

Finally Ms. Rodrigues offers that "...yellow light timing is to be based on the recommended methodology of the Institute of Transportation Engineers..."

According to the article by Mr. Labash: "...in the mid-'70s, the Institute of Transportation Engineers recommended a yellow time long enough to factor in reaction time plus stopping time plus "clearance time," or the time it takes to get through an intersection. But by the late '90s, that standard had been steadily eroded by altogether shaving off clearance time, lowering yellow light intervals by as much as a third, which often leaves the motorist stranded in the dilemma zone.

To make matters worse, the ITE, which in 1985 was still recommending yellow lights be lengthened to help clear intersections, now, with the advent of red light cameras, offers that "enforcement can be used instead."

Why would anyone defend red light ticketing over increasing yellow times? It seems that the logical first step of increasing yellow light times would be the best option to help save lives. And I refuse to believe that extending yellow lights at some of the most dangerous intersections will just give people more of an incentive to continue running red lights.

Of course, the likelihood that jurisdictions that currently have Photo Red will change the timing on them is extremely low. They would lose too much revenue - probably to the point that it wouldn't be cost effective to even run the cameras anymore.

James Simpson lives in Lake Ridge and has never been ticketed for running a red light.