Accidents are not caused by people going through yellow lights. But accidents can be caused by people slamming on brakes to avoid light turning red for a fraction of a second.
Accidents involving red light running happen when somebody runs a red light when the cross-traffic is already green. If red light cameras were calibrated to catch those offenders (much more rare, and thus ineffective to raise revenue) rather than catch regular drivers on a technicality they'd be much more popular.
Yet cities do it for revenue. That should tell you all about their effectiveness. As far as body shops, they can do brisk business on rear end collisions as well.
But red light cameras are calibrated such that they ensnare many of the "majority of the population", and not just the "small fraction" of red light runners. That's the problem. It could be solved by increasing the time between light going red and cameras being active to say 1 second.As with most laws, the root intention is too protect the majority of the population from the small fraction who thinks their needs supersede those of their neighbors. There will always be some anti-social types who see traffic signals and signs as impediments to their daily life and which can be disregarded when there is little perceived chance of being caught. Since there are so many traffic lights and so few policemen, the odds are always in their favor.
If we can all agree that failing to stop when a traffic light is red is a bad thing, not a sometimes bad thing, this discussion would make a lot more sense.
If a caution light is visible to a driver, they are obligated to stop.
Wrong. It is illegal to stop on yellow, if you cannot do it safely, which means almost anytime you are less than 100 feet from the intersection when it turns yellow.
Accidents are caused by people who run yellow lights.
Wrong again. The empirical evidence shows that many accidents are caused by drivers who brake at yellow lights when it is unsafe to so, and that red-light cameras cause an increase in the frequency of drivers engaging in such unsafe stops that violate the laws associated with yellow lights.
Please tell me how your "illegal to stop on yellow" statute is enforced. If a person approaching an intersection stops because they see the light turn yellow, and are then struck by a vehicle from behind, it would seem the second driver was following too close and failed to leave a sufficient distance between his vehicle and the one ahead of him.
Can this second driver actually go to court and claim the first driver stopped in an unsafe manner?
In the state of Louisiana, our laws which deal with yellow lights state that if the light turns yellow while it is in the driver's field of vision, the driver is obligated to stop. As far as I know, there is no provision exempting drivers farther back in traffic from the consequences of hitting the car ahead of them.