APPLETON, WI (WTAQ_WLUK) – With many vehicles expected to be on the road over the weekend, AAA is warning drivers that it may not be uncommon to see someone run a red light.
It says deaths caused by running a red light are at a 10-year high in Wisconsin.
Flying through a red light; most of us have probably seen it happen.
But AAA says it’s happening more often, and it could be for two big reasons
“First of all, people are more distracted behind the wheel, whether it be by their smartphones or other technology that’s present in the vehicle, causing them to maybe unintentionally go through the red light,” Nick Jarmusz, director of public affairs for AAA said. “Then there are folks intentionally doing it, because they’re impatient.”
Outagamie County Sheriff’s deputies say running red lights can lead to some of the worst crashes it sees.
Lieutenant Ryan Carpenter says it’s becoming more dangerous and more of a problem
“You can get some really bad traffic crashes, you know, T-bone type incidents where they’re hitting on the driver or passenger side, and we’ve had fatalities due to that,” he said.
The intersection of Mall Drive and College Avenue is one of the most dangerous intersections in Outagamie County, when it comes to drivers blowing through red lights.
Carpenter says don’t be surprised if you see more police scoping out the area.
“They’re there because of traffic capacity, so a number of cars going through that intersection, or because they’re problem intersections and, you know, a number of accidents have occurred there,” he said.
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety finds more than two people are killed on U.S. roads every day by drivers running red lights.
“Here in Wisconsin, we saw one of the sharpest increases for any state,” Jarmusz explained. “Going from a previous 10-year average of about 10 fatalities per year caused by red-light running, up to 22 in the year 2017.”
AAA says 28% of deadly crashes at intersections with stoplights were caused by running a red light.
Nearly half of those killed were passengers or people in other cars.
AAA wants drivers to be ready to stop, even when you have the green light.
Because you never know when it could turn red.
“Then I have to make the decision of slamming on the brakes and possibly causing a rear-end collision behind me, or going through what would then become a red light,” said Jarmusz.
