National Stop On Red Week a Call for Local Traffic Safety Awareness

Attention lead-foots, maniac drivers and those who think red lights apply only to the rest of us: It’s National Stop On Red Week and deputies are watching out for you.

In commemoration of the specially designated week, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office highlights the county's red-light camera system with the latest round of online clips showing red-light runners in action.

Seeing is believing in these clips of motorists who are inattentive, impatient, aggressive or just plain unaware of the traffic signals. One driver even runs the light after it was red for 175 seconds.

Red-Light Running Is Costly

• A red-light violation will cost the registered owner of the vehicle $158.

Red-Light Violations High as Westfield Brandon Entrance

• More than 22 percent of the nearly 34,000 red-light violations recorded at the outfitted with red-light cameras occurred at the entrance to the Westfield Brandon mall, according to a review of statistics provided by the by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office earlier this year.
• The review showed that on average, 17 motorists ran red lights every day at the Brandon Town Center Drive and Brandon Boulevard entrance, making it the third most dangerous intersection for red-light runners among those outfitted with cameras in Hillsborough County. 
• In all, the red-light cameras captured 33,966 red-light violations at the six Hillsborough intersections.

Legislative Push (and Pull) 

• Although there have been efforts in the state legislature to ban red-light cameras, one local state representative is

Don't Deny Denial: Case in Point

• One Brandon driver just didn’t get it when it came to the red-light camera. She was cited three times. "I talked to the driver and she just didn’t understand it. I eventually had to advise her to take another route,” said Cpl. Troy Morgan, who oversees the sheriff’s office’s red-light camera program.

Prevalence and Relevance

• Red-light cameras are used by more than 400 U.S. communities in 25 states, according to the National Campaign To Stop Red Light Running. Those cameras “have led to significant decreases in intersection violations and crashes, deaths and injuries. At the same time they have saved millions in societal costs,” according to the group’s website.
• The organization also cites a U.S. Federal Highway Administration-funded study that estimated total societal cost reductions from red light camera programs in seven U.S. cities to be over $14 million per year, or more than $38,000 for each studied red light camera location.