TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – As part of the national Stop On Red week, The University of Alabama College of Engineering and the Alabama Department of Transportation today kicked off a state-wide awareness campaign to “Stop Red Light Running” in Alabama.

Red light running is a serious problem in Alabama. A study recently conducted by the University Transportation Center for Alabama, headquartered at UA, found that between 1993 and 2001, there were 47,501 traffic crashes caused by red light running in Alabama (about 5,500 per year). There were about 16,500 injuries and 194 fatalities in these accidents. During those years, Birmingham averaged 600 red-light-running traffic crashes per year.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety also found similar statistics after reviewing six years of crash data and determined that Alabama had the fifth worst red-light-running fatality rate in the United States. In the same study, Birmingham had the sixth worst fatality rate among all cities in the United States.

National statistics show that more than 1.8 million intersection crashes occur every year. Preliminary estimates for 2001 indicate 150,000 injuries and about 1,100 deaths were attributed to red light running.

National Stop on Red Week – a week dedicated to educating Americans about the dangers of running red lights – lasts from Saturday, Aug. 30, through Friday, Sept. 5. The Federal Highway Administration created Stop Red Light Running in 1995 as a community-based safety program. This initial program began with 31 communities. The results have been extremely positive with a 50 percent reduction in the number of red light running incidents and a decrease of almost 40 percent in the number of crashes.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering has about 1,900 students and more than 90 faculty. It has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.