Idaho and the Boise area have seen a spate of traffic deaths and injuries. In January, the Idaho Transportation Department reported a 20-year high in traffic deaths, with over 270 people killed statewide in 2023. Most were people in vehicles, but pedestrian and bicyclist deaths nearly doubled from 2022, the Idaho Statesman previously reported .
Ada County was not immune, with 31 traffic deaths in 2023, according to the Transportation Department’s report. There were 13 fatal crashes in Boise in the same time period, compared with five in 2022.
Boise has identified one particular culprit of crashes: people running red lights. At a Tuesday meeting, City Council Member Luci Willits called it an “epidemic.”
When “a light turns green, you kind of sit there and make sure no one (is coming) through the intersection, because there’s so many that are happening,” she said.
Now the city plans to put up cameras at traffic intersections to catch red light runners in the act. On Tuesday, the City Council approved a licensing agreement with the Ada County Highway District, which governs the city’s roads. The agreement allows the city to pay for and install the cameras on ACHD-owned traffic signals.