There's decent evidence that red light cameras increase the total number of accidents, due to people suddenly stopping at yellows rather than blowing through[1]

There's decent evidence that red light cameras increase the total number of accidents, due to people suddenly stopping at yellows rather than blowing through[1]. At the same time, there's decent evidence that red light cameras decrease the number of fatal accidents, due to fewer people blowing through[2]. So the story is complicated: red light cameras seem to have a positive effect on the serious accident rate, but a negative effect on the overall rate. Municipalities could probably improve this by both doing a better job of signaling upcoming yellows and by redesigning roads to match the marked limit, rather than encouraging intuitive higher-speed driving. Personally however, I would take more fender-benders over more fatalities any day of the week. [1]: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/red-light-cameras-may-not-make-streets-safer/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/red-light-cameras... [2]: https://www.iihs.org/topics/red-light-running https://www.iihs.org/topics/red-light-running