Running a red light is one of the most deadly mistakes a driver can make - for themselves, their passengers and their fellow drivers.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety an average of 800 fatalities occur annually due to someone running a red light and in the meantime cause injury to another quarter million people each and every year. Why?
There are several factors that have been found to contribute to running red lights. First, it is considered a form of aggressive driving. We have all witnessed this type of bad behavior - akin to road rage - the driver demonstrates an almost sense of entitlement to have the right of way all the time, in every instance, while on the road.
Unfortunately, this type of behavior puts everyone on the road at risk - and often in an irreversible moment they jeopardize lives.
The second most common reason that people run a red light is because they are not paying attention. Distracted driving is a national plague and as the scenario of a distracted driver running a red light plays out time and again across the country more and more people fall victim.
A few other interesting statistics concerning 'red-light runners' include the fact that equal numbers of men and women are perpetrators and these types of accidents happen most frequently in the evening.
Finally, according to one analyst, a red light is run every twelve minutes at a typical stop light. A number like that clarifies why there are so many deaths and injuries from running red lights.
Greg Baumgartner is a Houston 18 wheeler accident attorney and the founder of the Baumgartner Law Firm, which is dedicated to helping Houston personal injury victims week civil justice.
