Miami ranks as one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. with the highest number of red-light running fatalities.
The National Coalition for Safer Roads (NCSR) launched an interactive map Wednesday, charting the 7,799 red-light running fatalities that happened nationwide between 2004 and 2013, according to the most recent data from the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration.
NCSR released the map for the annual National Stop on Red Week, which lasts from Aug. 2-8.
Miami made the top 10 list at No. 6 with 82 recorded fatalities. The top three cities are Houston, Texas, with 181 fatalities; Phoenix, Arizona, with 127; and Los Angeles with 125.
The map plots more than 600 fatalities in Florida at the intersections where they happened. More than 200 fatalities are recorded in the Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
NCSR President Melissa Wandall says the map makes the data easy and accessible.
“You can’t be blind to red-light running when you look at this map,” she says.
The issue hits close to home for Wandall. She lost her husband to a red-light runner in 2003, and two weeks before she gave birth to their daughter.
“I lived this every single, solitary day,” she says.
Wandall then made it her mission to educate the public about the dangers of red-light running.
In 2010, the Florida Legislature signed the MarkWandallTraffic Safety Act into law. It established the use of red-light safety cameras for traffic enforcement and designated a portion of funds from traffic violations to the state and organizations, such as The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
In 2014, NCSR also reported that most of the red-light running violations happened during peak summer travel periods. The most dangerous time during these weekends were Friday afternoons between 1 and 5 p.m.
Data for 2014 was pulled from red-light safety cameras NCSR can access.
