Red-light runners are killing an average of three people a day in the United States — can we reduce that carnage?
It’s an old joke, but lately, I’m not laughing.
It goes like this: A guy gets in a taxi in a strange town. As it heads to his hotel, the cabbie runs a red light. They emerge safely, but the passenger is a bit surprised.
This happens again, and then a third time. When he drives through yet another red light, the passenger objects. “What the hell are you doing,” he demands.
“Oh,” the cabbie says. “That’s how my brother taught me to drive.”
They continue along until the tax reaches a green light. The cabbie slams on the brakes.
“Now what?” the frazzled passenger asks.
“My brother might be coming the other way,” the cab driver replies.
In Sioux Falls, we seem to have a lot of drivers who were taught by that brother. I have been driving for almost 50 years and I have never seen so many vehicles running red lights. It occurs on a daily basis. When I drive across South Dakota’s biggest city, I am especially wary when approaching lighted intersections.
Some vehicles — especially pickups, I have noticed — ignore red lights. I have seen them speed up when the light hits yellow and then red, even if they are a long way from the intersection.
They plow right through, hoping vehicles coming the other way will give them room.
A few weeks ago, while driving through downtown one afternoon, a car raced through a red light long after it had changed. Because I have noticed the astonishing number of drivers who ignore red lights, I was cautious when entering the intersection, so we narrowly avoided being hit. It was frightening and far too close.
It’s not just me noticing this. In 2021, an estimated 127,000 people were injured in red-light running crashes (like the one above in a public domain photo posted in wikimedia commons), according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. A total of 1,109 people were killed in such crashes.
According to the South Dakota Department of Public Safety, there were 636 crashes when a driver ignored a traffic sign or signal between Jan. 1 and Nov. 10 this year. There were 2,142 when a driver refused to yield to a driver with the right of way.
Because of these dangerous behaviors and more, including animals striking vehicles, speeding, drunk or high drivers and other reasons, 3,127 drivers were injured so far this year, and 95 killed. We will likely top 100 by the end of the month.
According to a 2021 national telephone survey by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 76 percent of drivers said it is very or extremely dangerous to drive through a red light when they had time to stop — but 28 percent admitted doing so in the past 30 days.
Who is doing this?
“Among drivers involved in fatal red-light-running multiple-vehicle crashes in 2021, the red light runners were more likely than other drivers to be male, to be younger, and to have prior crashes or alcohol-impaired driving convictions,” the insurance report states. “The red-light runners also were more likely to be speeding or alcohol-impaired at the time of the crash and less likely to have a valid driver’s license.”
How do we get drivers to follow the rules of the road? Better driver training and education is needed. Public awareness campaigns are a good idea, along with signs at intersections, especially those with a history of red-light runners.
Posting more officers on city streets would help, along with heavy fines and maybe even some jail time. If people realize they will pay a price even if they escape injury, they might take their lead foot off the gas.
Another possible answer is red light safety cameras, which statistics show reduce both red light violations and crashes. They take photos of vehicles ignoring traffic lights, allowing a grace period of up to half a second.
The drivers I see racing through red lights in Sioux Falls miss by a lot more than that. If there is clear evidence the vehicle ran the signal, a traffic citation is issued.
The Sioux Falls Police Department has issued more than 2,500 citations for running red lights in the last five years, according to public information officer Sam Clemens. The annual totals are: 2019 – 574; 2020 – 440; 2021 – 518; 2022 – 542; and 2023 through Nov. 16 – 408.
On Wednesday, just a few blocks from where I wrote this, there was a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of 14th Street and Phillips Avenue when an SUV ran a red light and struck a van. A KELOLAND staffer was nearby, and captured the collision on their private vehicle’s dashboard camera.
KELO did a follow-up story on Thursday, while I obtained data from the Sioux Falls Police Department. On Friday, I asked Clemens what was being done to reduce this dangerous driving dilemma.
“Bad driving is always a problem whether it’s running red lights, speeding, impaired driving, or paying attention to cell phones instead of the roadway,” he told me. “Drivers that do not follow the law can create dangerous situations for other motorists. Patrol officers look for bad driving and address it when they can. Traffic officers primarily focus on traffic enforcement and work various complaint areas that include motorists running red lights.”
Several states have passed laws to allow for red-light cameras, and many large cities, including Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C., have them monitoring intersections.
South Dakota does not have such a law. In fact, the Legislature passed a law banning the use of red-light cameras and prohibits any county, municipal, or township authority to contract with a private company that provides red light cameras. We are among eight states that won’t allow this safety device.
We just hope for the best when some idiot in a pickup speeds through an intersection long after the light turns red, and accept the deaths and carnage that come along with this “freedom.”
Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states and contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets.
