PHOENIX — A new program aimed at reducing red-light runners has been given the green light. Yellow lights are going to get longer in Phoenix.
The Phoenix City Council approved the program Tuesday night following a presentation by the city's street transportation department.
The department partnered with the University of Arizona to study the effect of longer yellow lights on red-light runners. For twelve weeks, they examined a dozen intersections in Phoenix, lengthening the time of yellow lights at some of them to see if it prevented red light running.
The results showed that it worked, they said.
“What we found was actually a reduction in red light running," said Kini Knudson, Phoenix's Street Transportation Director. "It was actually a dramatic reduction. So during that 12-week period where we were studying the new light timing changes, we actually saw a decrease of 30 to 60 percent."
After Knudson presented that data, the city council opted to lengthen yellow lights at all of Phoenix's 1,200 traffic signals. They also approved adding five new positions within the street transportation department with the goal of having the lights changed within three years.
They plan to begin with the most dangerous intersections, using city data along with Maricopa County Association of Governments crash data.
Depending on the speed limit of the street, yellow lights will increase by anywhere from 0.2 to 0.6 seconds. The city will now use the posted speed limit plus an additional seven miles per hour to calculate the time of the light.
"The whole focus here is safety. If we can figure out ways to be able to reduce those collisions at our intersections where people are getting seriously injured or dying, we want to do everything we can," Knudson said. "This is just one potential solution that we're working towards."
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