Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/09/924.asp

1/27/2006

Georgia: Accidents Skyrocket at Marietta Camera Intersection
The red light camera in Marietta, Georgia has caused a 51 increase in accidents.

While the number of traffic accidents throughout Marietta, Georgia has increased fractionally over the past two years, the number of reported incidents jumped over 51 percent at the intersection of Cobb Parkway and Windy Hill Road. This intersection, the only one in the city with a red light camera, has seen a massive increase in primarily rear-end collisions. In 2004, there were 108 accidents of all types at the location. Last year, there were 163.

Police dismiss these results as insignificant, instead citing data provided to them by camera vendor LaserCraft that "violations" are down and that this result is more significant than the number of collisions occurring. The increase in the number of accidents is consistent with the findings of a number of reports including those of The Washington Post, the Virginia Department of Transportation, North Carolina A&T University, and the Australian Road Research Board. See the complete results of each study.

"We expected that would happen," Marietta spokesman Matthew Daily told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a February 9, 2006 story. "Statistically across the country, rear-enders always come up after a red-light camera."

Statistics show the number of angle collisions, head-on collisions, sideswipes and rear-end collisions increased after cameras were installed.

Source: Minor Accidents Up Despite Cameras (WXIA-TV (Georgia), 1/27/2006)

Permanent Link for this item
Return to Front Page