TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - According to Toledo Police, nine people in the city have died due to traffic accidents in 2017 alone, and for that reason they believe red light cameras are becoming ever more important in keeping drivers safe. "Just like when you know that there's a cop on the road, if you're driving in a certain area and you say 'man there's always a cop up there running radar, should check my speed.' I'm a firm believer that that's what these cameras are doing. That's why we publicize and tell you where they're at," said Lieutenant Jeff Sulewski. According to Toledo Police Department records, the intersections where they have issued the most red light citations include Hill and Bryne with 1,322 tickets issued there just in the span of 2016.

He said the red light camera citations they review show that people are driving right through the light, not stopping at all.



"As we become older drivers -for a lack of putting it in another way- and as we get more experience, a lot of people think that while I roll up I can make a right turn on red. I don't have to stop. That is not how the law is written. You have to make that complete stop and that's for everybody's safety,"

Sulewski said.



Sulewski said controlling your speed is number one because that reduces the chance of running a red light and risking the chance

of crashing.



"When we review the citations, if the person makes a stop and they yield to any pedestrian in the crosswalk or any

traffic that's crossing that has the right of way, we will reject that incident right away and it will not go out as a citation," he said.





According to Toledo Police, they have 44 fixed red light cameras around the city of Toledo and the cameras have helped in reducing the number of crashes around the city.