Intersection Cameras and Signal-Timing Records: The Evidence That Proves Who Had the Green Light

Published March 5, 2024 · Injury Law Basics

"My light was green." In an intersection crash, both drivers often say it, and both may believe it. The police report may list no witness and no citation. The insurance company then calls it a "disputed liability" claim and offers little or nothing.

But the light was green for only one of them, and the proof frequently exists. It sits in a city's signal-timing files, in a traffic-monitoring camera's memory, in a gas station's security system, or in a doorbell camera across the street. The catch is that much of it disappears within days unless someone asks for it.

Why intersection crashes are so often disputed

My years as a Dayton police officer taught me why these cases are hard. Witnesses at intersections tend to be looking somewhere else when the crash happens and look up only at the sound. Drivers under stress honestly misremember. And the physical evidence (where the cars ended up, the damage pattern) shows how they collided but not which signal each driver faced.

Ohio's traffic-signal statute, R.C. 4511.13, defines what each light means. A steady red requires drivers to stop and remain stopped until a signal to proceed is displayed. A steady yellow warns that the green is ending. A driver turning left on a circular green must yield to oncoming traffic close enough to be an immediate hazard. Who violated those rules is the whole case, and it is a question of fact that has to be proven.

The records the government already holds

Many crashes happen at signalized intersections maintained by a city, a county, or the Ohio Department of Transportation. Those agencies keep records that can establish the signal sequence:

• Signal-timing and phasing plans. These show how long each green, yellow and all-red interval lasts, the order of the phases, and whether the timing changes by time of day.
• Controller and maintenance records. These can show whether the signal was operating normally, in flashing mode, or malfunctioning, and when it was last serviced or reprogrammed. Some modern signal controllers also log events electronically, which can help reconstruct what the lights were doing at a given moment.
• Traffic-monitoring camera video. Many intersections have cameras used to watch traffic flow. Whether the footage is recorded, and how long it is kept, varies by agency and system. Some is never recorded at all; some is kept only briefly.
• Complaint and work-order history. Prior reports that a signal was stuck, dark, or confusing can matter, both for proving how the crash happened and for any claim involving the signal itself.

Ohio's Public Records Act, R.C. 149.43, generally requires a public office to promptly prepare responsive records for inspection and to provide copies within a reasonable period of time. Under R.C. 149.43(B)(4), the office generally may not require a requester to explain who they are or why they want the records as a condition of getting them. Public records requests are one of the first tools we use after an intersection crash in Dayton, Kettering, Centerville, or on a state route.

Private cameras are often the best evidence, and the fastest to vanish

Government records explain how the signal was programmed. Video shows what actually happened. The most useful footage often comes from:

• gas stations, banks, fast-food restaurants and other businesses facing the intersection,
• doorbell and home security cameras on nearby houses,
• dashcams in other vehicles, including buses, delivery vans and commercial trucks, and
• the vehicles involved, many of which have event data recorders that capture speed and braking in the seconds before impact.

Private businesses owe you nothing. Their systems typically record over themselves on a rolling basis, often within days. A polite but formal written request to preserve the footage, delivered quickly to the right person, is frequently the difference between proof and an argument. Our guide chapter on gathering evidence while it still exists explains preservation letters and vehicle data in more detail.

Putting the pieces together

Records rarely tell the whole story alone. Signal-timing data tells us, for example, that the yellow lasts four seconds followed by an all-red interval. Video from a business across the street shows when each car entered the intersection. The vehicles' event data shows speed and braking. A crash reconstruction expert can then line up those sources to show, sometimes to a fraction of a second, which driver entered on red. We explained that process in our post on what a crash reconstructionist does for your injury case.

When a party destroys evidence after being told that a lawsuit is likely, Ohio law provides consequences. In Smith v. Howard Johnson Co., 67 Ohio St.3d 28 (1993), the Supreme Court of Ohio recognized a claim for willful destruction of evidence designed to disrupt a case, which requires showing, among other things, that the defendant knew litigation was pending or probable. A prompt preservation letter is what creates that knowledge. Even so, no remedy is as good as having the video.

What to do in the first days after an intersection crash

• Note the cameras. Look around the intersection, or have a family member go back, and write down every business, house and pole with a camera. Our guide chapter on the first 72 hours after an injury includes this step.
• Get witness names, including other drivers who stopped.
• Photograph the signals and the intersection layout, including any turn arrows and signs.
• Do not argue fault with the other driver's insurer or give a recorded statement.
• Call a lawyer quickly. Requests to private businesses and public offices should go out within the first week, not the first month.

What this means for you

If the other driver's insurer says it is your word against theirs, it may not be. The objective record of the signal, and video of the moment of the crash, often exists for a short time. Our intersection collision practice is built around getting that evidence early and using it to prove what happened.