Spare yourself the trauma with Brenna Benjamin.

Brenna Benjamin handles Trauma Program Injury Prevention and Outreach for Emergency Services at NorthBay Healthcare. Her blog focuses on preventive safety measures and true trauma encounters.

You can e-mail her at: BBenjamin@NorthBay.org

Brenna started writing for this blog September of 2017.

National "Stop on Red" Week

August 03, 2015
 

Red, stop. Green, go. Yellow, slow.  

If my memory serves me correctly, one of the elementary games I played in kindergarten was "Red Light, Green Light." From an early age we are introduced to stop and go, preparing us for the years ahead where these simple colors would surround us on streets every day.

The first week of August is dedicated to raising awareness about the dangers of red-light running. Every day, innocent lives are lost because drivers do not stop on red lights. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 8,700 people were killed in one year by intersection or intersection-related accidents. 

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the leading cause of urban crashes is red-light running. Red light safety cameras helped save more than 150 lives in 14 of the biggest U.S. cities from 2004 to 2008. More than 3.5 million drivers received a red-light violation from a red-lights safety camera.

Drivers most frequently run red lights in the afternoon with about 30 percent (1,070,572) of all red-light running violations occurring from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday proved to be the worst day for intersection safety in 2013. Safety cameras caught 570,151 total red-light running violations, while Sunday saw the fewest violations with a total of 439,323. Memorial Day weekend was the highest ranked holiday travel period with 39,021 red light violations in 2013.

Researchers estimate that 7.3 million red-light violations involved a distracted driver.

 Red-light safety cameras are a critical tool in improving driver behavior and reducing red light running nationwide. Among drivers who received a ticket issued by a red-light safety camera in 2013, 89 percent have not received another. The power is with the driver. Don't give in to distractions and don't be in a rush. Don't run red lights, it's not worth the ticket and it's certainly not worth a life.

Red light, stop on red.

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