Mike
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http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/42/4206.asp
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Virginia Beach Hides Data Showing Increased Red Light Camera Injuries
More people ended up in the hospital after Virginia Beach, Virginia installed red light cameras.
After holding out for more than three years, officials in Virginia Beach, Virginia finally released accident data that raise serious questions about whether the use of red light cameras has improved traffic safety in the city. Comparing three years before and three years after camera installation, the number of injury accidents went down 12 percent throughout the city. At the twelve intersections where red light camera tickets are issued, however, injury accidents went up 5 percent over the same period.
"The red light cameras made intersection safety measurably worse, yet Virginia Beach is on the cusp of renewing their red-light camera contract with vendor Redflex at the end of this month," National Motorists Association (NMA) President Gary Biller told TheNewspaper. "Withholding damning injury crash data until this late stage in the contract renewal process seems like a deliberative effort by the city to keep residents in the dark about the poor safety performance of the ticket cameras."
The NMA first requested the preliminary accident results in September 2010. The group repeated the public records request several times as consideration of the contract renewal with the Australian photo enforcement vendor grew near, only to be told the information was "not ready yet." After finally releasing the information, city officials dismissed the relevance of the climbing injury rate.
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SNIP
Virginia Beach Hides Data Showing Increased Red Light Camera Injuries
More people ended up in the hospital after Virginia Beach, Virginia installed red light cameras.
After holding out for more than three years, officials in Virginia Beach, Virginia finally released accident data that raise serious questions about whether the use of red light cameras has improved traffic safety in the city. Comparing three years before and three years after camera installation, the number of injury accidents went down 12 percent throughout the city. At the twelve intersections where red light camera tickets are issued, however, injury accidents went up 5 percent over the same period.
"The red light cameras made intersection safety measurably worse, yet Virginia Beach is on the cusp of renewing their red-light camera contract with vendor Redflex at the end of this month," National Motorists Association (NMA) President Gary Biller told TheNewspaper. "Withholding damning injury crash data until this late stage in the contract renewal process seems like a deliberative effort by the city to keep residents in the dark about the poor safety performance of the ticket cameras."
The NMA first requested the preliminary accident results in September 2010. The group repeated the public records request several times as consideration of the contract renewal with the Australian photo enforcement vendor grew near, only to be told the information was "not ready yet." After finally releasing the information, city officials dismissed the relevance of the climbing injury rate.
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