The first week of August was National Stop on Red Week. This is an important nationwide effort organized by National Coalition for Safer Roads, which partners with local organizations and communities nationwide to raise awareness about how dangerous it is for people to run red lights.
When a driver goes through a light at an intersection, a T-bone collision and other types of traffic accidents are very likely to occur. The driver who has run the traffic signal should be held responsible for losses. Collisions when a motorist has missed a signal are often very severe and cause permanent injuries or death. Nothing can undo the damage, even compensation for victims, so it is best for every motorist to make a commitment never take the risk of running a red.
National Stop on Red Week Highlights Dangers of Red Light Collisions
The first program designed to help educate the public on red light running was created in 1995 by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). In 1998, the American Trauma Society and DaimlerChrysler teamed up to bring the program nationwide.
Despite ongoing efforts to educate the public, there are still very significant risks. National Stop on Red Week is part of continued efforts to alert to the dangers of going through signals. NCSR has prepared a list of 10 Reasons to Stop on Red, which was one of the education tools publicized during Stop on Red Week. The reasons include details on how common crashes are and on the extent of losses resulting from red light accidents. For example:
- There were 7,779 people killed from 2004 to 2013 as a result of drivers running red lights. In 2013 alone, an estimated 697 people died and 127,000 sustained injuries because of motor vehicle crashes caused by a driver who went through a traffic signal.
- One out of every three people in America knows someone who has either been injured or who has been killed in a motor vehicle accident resulting from someone running a red light.
- Approximately half of the people who die in crashes resulting from running a red light are bike riders, pedestrians, and people in other vehicles (and not the red-light runner or his passengers).
- Within urban areas, accidents caused by red-light runners are the single most common type of collision causing injury to motorists.
- People who run red lights are more than three times as likely to have a conviction for some type of moving or driving violation as compared with other motorists.
- Although 55 percent of people responding to surveys said running a red light was a threat to safety, and 76 percent described running a red as unacceptable, 36 percent continued to run reds.
Drivers should still take time to consider the very serious risks of going through a signal and should make sure they avoid this high-risk behavior.
