NCSR Red Light Safety Campaign

As a child, I remember playing the game Red Light/Green Light. The object of the game was to have one person on one end and another person, or a group of people, at the opposing end. The one person was in charge of yelling out either "red light" or "green light". As with life, the green light gave you the ability to run freely, and the red light meant you stopped immediately. The person who reached the "yeller" at the opposite end of the field was the winner. That's if you followed the rules correctly.

I remember times when a person would continue to run even after "red light" was yelled. This caused quite a stir. Other players grew angry. Sometimes an injury would result when a person slid or tripped for trying to make it to the end, all while contesting the "red light" instructions. Although this game was just silly fun among children in a school or back yard, it's no laughing matter when it comes to real-life and the person disobeying the rules is behind the wheel of a car.

Read the information below on the importance of the Red Light Safety campaign, as provided by the National Coalition for Safer Roads:

Keeping our families safe on the road is a very important task that we undertake as parents. We drive carefully, keep our cars in tip-top shape, and make sure everyone is buckled in safely on each and every trip. Unfortunately, we can’t control what other drivers on the road are doing. We must rely on the police and essential safety equipment, such as red light safety cameras, to help keep us safe.

A recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that 113,000 people were injured and 676 were killed in crashes that involved red-light running in 2009 – two-thirds of the victims were pedestrians, bicyclists and occupants of vehicles hit by the red-light runners.

The study also showed that red-light safety cameras helped save more than 150 lives in 14 of the biggest U.S. cities from 2004 to 2008. Had the cameras been operating in all 99 U.S. cities with populations more than 200,000, more than 800 lives could have been saved.

Each time we enter an intersection, our families are at risk of becoming the victim of an accident – whether on foot or in a vehicle. Red light safety cameras help to change driver behavior and reduce the risk to our loved ones, however many people are unaware just how valuable these cameras are to those on the road.

The National Coalition for Safer Roads has created a powerful video, showing just how tragic the consequences of running a red light can be.



You can find the National Coalition for Safer Roads on their website, Twitter and Facebook pages, for more information about this important initiative.

Join the Coalition in spreading this important message. You may save the life of a loved one or spare a family the heartbreak of losing a life to a tragic intersection accident.

Disclosure: I am participating in a campaign thanks the National Coalition for Safer Roads and Global Influence. All opinions and views are those of my own.

lights stock photo by www.pixmac.com