Mayor Cory A. Booker, Police Director Garry F. McCarthy and Engineering Director Mehdi Mohammadish announced that accidents in the City at intersections with road safety cameras dropped 16 percent during the first full year of operation of the City of Newark’s “Project Red Light” program. The City of Newark officially implemented Project Red Light on December 16, 2009, and cameras are currently located at 10 of the most heavily-travelled intersections in Downtown Newark.

“Project Red Light was implemented over a year ago for the critical purpose of increasing pedestrian and motor vehicle safety at our busiest intersections,” Mayor Booker said. “We set out to make our City’s busiest intersections safer by efficiently and effectively pursuing and holding motorists who run red lights accountable. To achieve this measurable outcome when many of our intersections only had a partial year of implementation is even more impressive.  I’m excited to see the continued success of this program as it matures. Newark is on the cutting edge of innovative change which is improving the quality of life for our residents and saving lives.”

Based on the City of Newark’s one-year report to the State of New Jersey, accidents at the 10 intersections with “Project Red Light” cameras dropped 16 percent in 2010 over the 2009 total, with half the intersection cameras installed for six months or less. From July through December 2010, there were 23 percent fewer accidents than the final six months of 2009.

Violations also dropped throughout the year. In February 2010, there were 575 violations per intersection approach, compared to 341.4 violations in December 2010 – a reduction of 40 percent. Over the final four months of the year, driver behavior continued to be modified as there were 20 percent fewer violations per intersection approach in December compared to September.

“Using red light cameras has made it safer for residents and motorists who travel through the City of Newark.  We’ve definitely seen the difference in driver behavior and responded to fewer total accidents and injury accidents,” Director McCarthy said. “With fewer accidents for our officers to manage, we have been able to increase our policing in other areas and still keep motorists safe in sections of the City where the safety cameras are active.”

One of the most heavily-traveled intersections in the City – Broad Street and Raymond Boulevard – was the first intersection to have safety cameras operational.  Accidents at that intersection dropped 61 percent, with five accidents in 2010 after 13 in 2009 and 17 in 2008.

“The first year of this program has exceeded our expectations and has shown that using technology alongside engineering improvements can make our intersections safer for pedestrians and motorists,” said Director Mohammadish.

Positive driver behavioral changes in Newark fall in line with other cities who have implemented road safety cameras. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently released a study that confirmed a 24 percent reduction in fatalities (159 lives saved) across 14 U.S. cities with safety camera programs operating from 2004 to 2008.  The analysis also found that if safety cameras had operated during that period in all 99 cities with 200,000 or more residents, a total of 815 deaths would have been prevented.

“Camera programs have reduced red light running accidents substantially. Red light cameras enforce the law 24 hours a day, seven days a week, freeing up police to do other kinds of enforcement. When people know they’re certain to get a ticket, they’re much less likely to run red lights,” Insurance Institute for Highway Safety President Adrian Lund said.

Newark was the first city in the State of New Jersey to implement intersection safety cameras.  The City deployed automated photo enforcement cameras for red light running at 24 approaches across 10 intersections in a staggered process throughout 2010.  Twelve other intersections are also pending approval from the New Jersey State Department of Transportation.  A list of intersections is attached.

For information on all City of Newark programs and policies, contact the Non-Emergency Call Center at (973) 733-4311.

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