To raise awareness about the danger red-light running poses to motorists and pedestrians, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the American Trauma Society (ATS) and the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) are sponsoring the fifth annual "National Stop on Red Week" Sept. 7-13.
"Red-light running is a threat to everyone. It leads to thousands of injuries and deaths in intersections," said FHWA Administrator Mary Peters.
In 2001 there were an estimated 103,000 red-light running crashes in intersections. The collisions caused 84,000 injuries. Although injuries from red-light running crashed have dropped by nearly 7% since 2000, the number of fatal crashes and fatalities increased 6% and 5%, respectively, to 1,026 fatal crashes and 1,131 fatalities.
"Red-light running is right behind drunk driving and lack of seat belt use in lives lost needlessly," said ATS Director Harry Teter.
