WASHINGTON, D. C. (Thursday, February 8, 2018) ––Maryland lawmakers are set to weigh a bill today that would increase the length of yellow signals at intersections monitored by red-light camera systems across the state.  The duration of yellow lights in Maryland would increase by a half a “tick-mark,” make all the difference in the world, from three and a half seconds to four seconds. Some proponents say the fraction of a second change is long overdue because drivers are often trapped into red-light camera tickets during peak travel times at intersections where the yellow light duration is shorter than the recommended standards. Advocates say that half a second time span would decrease the frequency of flagrant red-light running.

The legislation emerges as study after study “links red light cameras to a coinciding rise in rear-end collisions” at intersections across the nation.  If enacted, House Bill 204, the “Traffic Control Signal Monitoring Systems –Duration of Yellow Signal” Act, would require Maryland jurisdictions to elongate the length of time the signal would remain in the “amber phase” before changing to a red signal. The change would reduce collisions related to red light running and prevent jurisdictions from setting yellow light intervals below the minimum standard promulgated by the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA).

Dubbed the “Four Second Act,” the measure is sponsored by Delegate Marc C. Korman (D-District 16, Montgomery County).  Motorists fear that the lack of standardization of yellow light times at signalized intersections increases the number of traffic crashes, as well as the number of red-light camera tickets. Given this, advocates are calling for the use of “minimum timing values for the yellow change intervals,” based on sound and proven traffic engineering standards, such as “the approach speed” of vehicles heading into signalized intersections with red-light camera systems perched nearby.

“Far and wide, red-light camera technology is used to curb dangerous driving behaviors and to ticket flagrant red light runners who endanger the lives and limbs of other highway users while barreling straight through an intersection after the signal turns red,” said John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Manager of Public and Government Affairs. “Increasingly, red-light camera systems are being deployed in Maryland to also ticket motorists who block busy intersections, who come to a complete stop just beyond the white stop bar,  or who make right turns on red while failing to stop. As mandated by state law, the payable fine is $75.”

The powerful Maryland House Environment and Transportation Committee  is holding a hearing on the “4- Second Act” in the state capital this afternoon, Thursday, February 8, 2018. The measure would bring the yellow “clearance” interval in Maryland to the standards set by both the Maryland State Highway Administration and the Federal Highway Administration. As of February 2018, 422 communities across the United States have red light camera programs, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). In the state of Maryland, seven counties (including Baltimore City) and 21 other local jurisdictions in the state operated and deployed red-light camera systems during 2017, according to the Maryland General Assembly’s Department of Legislative Services.  Drivers say changing the timekeeping standards would modify driving behaviors for the better, improve traffic safety, and reduce fatal and injury crashes at intersections. 

Studies have shown that jurisdictions are seeing an increased number of rear-end collisions at intersections after the implementations of red-light cameras, as motorists “brake earlier than usual at a yellow light in order to avoid a ticket for running the red light.” As red-light camera systems have proliferated across the United States and in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, some motorists have long suspected that some localities are deliberately shortening the yellow signal timing to ensnare more drivers.  

In 2013, the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) promulgated a policy stating that the ‘minimum yellow light interval should be 3.5 seconds.” Even so, HB 204 would prolongate by a half second the yellow light intervals at intersections with automated enforcement systems. An investigation into yellow light timing practices in Montgomery County raised serious questions regarding whether police departments and transportation departments were complying with Maryland SHA’s “3.5 second policy.” In May 2017, the Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General launched an inquiry into yellow signal timing after receiving two complaints “related to the timing of yellow signals along State highways.”

As a result of the inquiry by the Inspector General, the Montgomery County Department of Transportation announced it prioritized “the retiming of yellow signals at intersections with red-light camera monitoring, and all of those intersections were retimed by the end of 2016.” The number of total red-light camera citations declined to 26,637 tickets in the period from January to May 2017, compared to 29,286 photo-red citations in the same five-month period a year earlier in 2016. The drop-off was not as large as some groups alleged.  Montgomery County’s Red Light Camera Program spun out 548,179 red-light camera tickets and yielded $40,808,888 in gross red-light camera ticket revenue from Fiscal Year 2007 to FY 2016.

The Prince George’s Police Department issued 175,775 red-light camera tickets and collected $11.6 million in photo-red revenue from FY 2014 to FY 2016. The County projected it would issue 171,160 red-light and school bus stop arm tickets, and it eyes collecting $11.8 million in photo-red revenue during the FY 2017 and FY 2018 budget cycles. As drafted, HB 204 requires a traffic signal at an intersection monitored by red-light camera systems to display a yellow light for at least four seconds before changing to a red signal. The legislation is crafted to standardize the yellow change at red-light camera intersections only and provide a safe transition between the traffic signal phases at those locations for the traveling public including motorists, pedestrians, the disabled, the elderly, school children, cyclists, motorcyclists and joggers.  

Supporters contend the half-second change would reduce the number of rear-end crashes, as well as front-into-side collisions and right-angle crashes. Once upon a time, red light camera systems were deployed to “automatically photograph” motorists running straight ahead through a red light.  Area jurisdictions, including Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Rockville and the City of Laurel, have purchased a new generation of high-tech red-light cameras that empower the agency to detect and ticket motorists for other violations, including making right turns on red without stopping. As a result, right turn on red violations comprise the largest percentage of red-light camera tickets in many Maryland localities and constitute almost “90 percent”  red-light camera ticket cases heard in the state’s  District Court. Ending such ticketing, one jurisdiction says, would result in “a loss of roughly one-third of citations and more than $1 million annually.”

Some drivers say this is “redefining stop.” Delegate Korman’s bill would increase the yellow signal to 4 seconds. That extra ½ second would enhance traffic safety, advocates say, and decrease both the number of drivers running right through a red light, and getting red-light camera tickets in Maryland. The Environment and Transportation hearing is slated to begin at 1:00 P.M. in Room 250, House Office Building, 6 Bladen Street, Annapolis, Maryland 21401. If signed into law, H.B. 204 would go into effect October 1, 2018.

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