Northern Virginia motorists who thought that red light camera ticketing was found unconstitutional several years ago will be surprised to find new cameras popping up all over the area. Earlier this year, Arlington County and the City of Alexandria installed cameras at several busy intersections and now Falls Church is joining the recent safety mania that has produced bans on talking on the phone, texting, and even eating while driving.  However, despite the best intentions of state legislators, these laws will never eliminate bad drivers.

Safety advocates argue that red light cameras cameras will save lives, but this begs the question: how many lives will actually be saved thanks to this new intrusion of government into our daily lives? According to a study released by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in 2007, although the presence of cameras reduced red light running, there was no clear decrease in the number of injuries caused by red light running.