New technology for conducting red light running studies

Red light running (RLR) has developed into a significant problem in the United States, as well as many locations worldwide. One of the main problems in combating RLR is the difficulty of obtaining field data to assess the problems and effectiveness of countermeasures at individual intersections. Recognizing the importance of this problem, the University of Florida Transportation Research Center has initiated a program to develop the hardware and software required to support productive and effective field studies. The central element in the data collection scheme is the Red Light Running Analysis Package (RLRAP), which provides the enabling technology to observe vehicles in violation of a red signal by superimposing the status of all traffic signals on a video image of the complete intersection. This allows us to do something that has never been possible before, namely to see all of the vehicles and all of the signals at the same time. Because it supports a new type of study that has been nearly impossible to perform in the past, RLRAP has the potential to become an important tool in the traffic safety toolbox. This paper describes the development and deployment of the RLRAP system. As a result of this development, we are now able to undertake the long overdue task of a large-scale data collection effort that will produce new insight into the causes and countermeasures for RLR, as well as other traffic phenomena at signalized intersections.