WASHINGTON 鈥� Nearly every driver has played that 鈥済ame鈥� where they try to beat a yellow light before it turns red. One Maryland lawmaker wants to standardize how long yellow lights last.
If you鈥檙e familiar with the road then chances are you have a good feel for how long the traffic light will stay yellow and whether you can make it. On a road you don鈥檛 know as well, it鈥檚 more of a guessing game.
If there鈥檚 a red light camera at that intersection, guessing wrong can cost you. Maryland Del. Marc Korman said that鈥檚 not fair, and it may not be safe.
Under current law a yellow light has to last for three and a half seconds if there鈥檚 a camera posted at the intersection looking for red light runners. However, some municipalities haven鈥檛 always adhered to that law.
The variation in the law means Korman wants to standardize those special intersections just like the state has standardized the threshold for speed camera violations.
Testifying before a House of Delegates committee on Thursday, Korman said his bill 鈥渟ort of follows the model of the speed cameras where we give a 12 miles per hour leeway before a citation will issue. This [legislation] went with a simple four second standard for yellow lights.鈥�
Korman acknowledged there may be other ways to go about it, and seemed willing to look at different options.
鈥淏ut I also think these lights should be fair,鈥� Korman said. 鈥淭he way I did the bill as a first attempt is using four seconds the same way we use a 12 mile per hour leeway on speed cameras.鈥�
Also there to testify on the bill was AAA-Mid Atlantic representative John Townsend, whose organization has been supportive of photo enforcement, when it鈥檚 clear that safety and not revenue is the main goal.
鈥淚t鈥檒l make those systems more fair,鈥� Townsend said. 鈥淚t will also adhere to the state standard of 3.5 seconds but give motorists an additional half second.鈥�
He also told lawmakers it鈥檒l improve safety on the road, by helping to 鈥渞educe the number of rear-end crashes and collisions at intersections鈥� by as much as 25 percent.
鈥淲e see this happening because of the influx of red light camera systems as drivers slam on the brakes to avoid running through the intersection, as they should,鈥� he said.
