Photo by Chris Rief

D.C. legislators have spent months debating over the merits of the city’s growing network of speed cameras, but now one wants to focus on the cameras that catch drivers who blow through red lights.

Councilmember Vincent Orange (D-At Large) introduced legislation yesterday that would mandate that the city study the timing of yellow lights. Orange said that after seeing a report on a similar study in Missouri, he was worried that the city could be cutting down on yellow light timing cycles in order to catch more people driving through red lights—a $150 fine; over 94,000 violations were recorded last year.

The D.C. Department of Transportation says that the standard time cycle for yellow lights in D.C. is four seconds, but that it can increase depending on the width of the road the light is on and the speed limit. The Federal Highway Administration advises that yellow lights should last between three and six seconds.

Still, as the National Journal reported last year, a number of cities and municipalities have been caught with shorter-than-usual yellow light cycles, especially at intersections with red lights cameras at them. This can be dangerous, causing drivers to slam on the brakes and potentially cause accidents. (In New York City, AAA recently claimed that yellow lights at intersections with red lights were timed short, though offered little evidence to prove the point.)

Last year D.C. officials lowered fines for some speed camera violations, but also raised the speed limit on certain roads where motorists complained of being entrapped by cameras. A D.C. Council task force broadly discussed the issue of what fines are appropriate for red light cameras, but decided to leave it at $150. Various studies have found that red light cameras have been effective in stopping drivers from blowing through intersections after they’re supposed to.