Drivers in certain areas of Florida like Gainesville, Fort Myers, Orlando, and Collier County, have begun noticing odd little blue lights mounted on the top of some traffic signals. What are they there for? In spite of what you or your passengers may have speculated, they have nothing to do with red light cameras. However, like traffic cameras, they play a role in catching drivers who run red lights.

These little blue lights are called confirmation lights, and they are designed to help law enforcement officers to see from any direction which lights are red. For example, if a driver is going south, but the cop is facing in another direction, the officer wouldn’t be able to see whether the driver’s light was red when they entered the intersection. This is because a blue confirmation light, which is only illuminated when the signal below it is red, can be seen from any direction.

There are a few potential benefits to installing these lights. For one thing, only one officer is needed to monitor an intersection instead of two. Additionally, it’s less dangerous for police officers, since they can monitor entire intersections from a safe vantage point. Most importantly, it’s hoped that an initial increase in citations will be a deterrent for drivers running red lights going forward.

Florida isn’t the only state where these lights have been installed. Cities in Colorado, South Dakota, and Kansas have also installed these blue indicators. In fact, the Minnesota Department of Transportation conducted a safety study in 2014 on the impact of confirmation lights in Florida. Shortly thereafter, the little blue lights started popping up in Minnesota towns like Blaine, Crystal, and Maplewood.

That study found that crashes caused by running red lights dropped by 33% after these confirmation lights were installed. Another study done by the Federal Highway Administration in 2017 stated that its results indicated “statistically significant crash reductions for most crash types”. So, all signs seem to indicate the confirmation lights are working.

This is important because, while traffic fatalities from all types of car crashes dropped slightly last year, red light running is a significant cause of traffic fatalities in the U.S. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), 1,086 people were killed and 136,000 were injured in 2023 in accidents that involved running of red lights. Pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers and passengers in other vehicles made up half of the total fatalities.

What we really mean to say is don’t run red lights, anywhere, regardless of your chance of getting caught. Running a red light can be fatal to you, your passengers, other drivers, and even pedestrians. That’s not worth the couple of minutes you might save on your trip.

If that’s not enough incentive to obey traffic signals, consider the penalties if you do get caught. In Florida, being caught on camera running a red light will cost you a $158 fine. Failure to pay will result in a Uniform Traffic Citation being issued, and you may then have to pay up to $500, including administrative costs and court fees. 

However, if you are pulled over by an officer — maybe one who saw the little blue confirmation light — you’re looking at upwards of $264, depending on the county, as well as points on your license. No matter how you look at it, there’s no good reason to run a red light. So, drive safely and obey the traffic signals.