BOISE -- At least two people are killed every day on U.S. roads as a result of reckless or inattentive drivers who run a red light, according to a new report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. In 2017, the most recent year on record, 939 people were killed in red light running crashes, a ten- year high. Just over one-third of those killed were the drivers who ran the red light. The rest were passengers, occupants of other vehicles, pedestrians, or cyclists.
“There’s an unacceptable amount of collateral damage caused by the selfish and impatient actions of a few,” says AAA Idaho spokesman Matthew Conde. “A driver’s desire to get somewhere faster is never more important than the safety of other road users.”
According to AAA’s most recent Traffic Safety Culture Index, 85 percent of drivers view red light running as very dangerous, yet nearly one in three say that they blew through a red light when they could have safely stopped. Their willingness to break the law could stem in part from the fact that 40 percent of drivers also say it’s unlikely that they’ll be stopped by police for running a red light.
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