Does Oxford Have Too Many Red Lights?

If you’re frustrated with the red light situation in Oxford, you are in good company.

While stop lights are one of the necessary evils of commuting, they don’t guarantee safety for pedestrians or cooperation from drivers.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, red-light running is the number one cause of urban crashes. Furthermore in 2013, approximately 127,000 people were injured in red-light related accidents.

In August 2015, the National Coalition for Safer Roads released an interactive safety map that would allow users to see the number of red-light running deaths in their area as part of the group’s ‘Stop on Red’ initiative.

At Patch, we appreciate that our readers and motorists know the stop lights in Oxford best. We asked you on Facebook how you felt about the red lights in our area. Could Oxford use more red lights? Are there too many? What intersections need a stop light, or can get rid of one?

Here’s what readers said on social media:

- " Oxford doesn't need anymore lights at the moment. I'd like to get rid of the one at Riggs. They will probably need one at the Haynes shopping site."

- "The one at Riggs is fine - accident waiting to happen without it. Especially how people take that corner going towards southbury"

- "They are gonna need one at the Haynes site and the one at Riggs is not really needed. Honestly, the traffic there is worse with the light then it was without it. The light backs it up to the trooper station and blocks Chestnut Tree Ext. just about every afternoon. With that not flowing it creates more traffic issues then it solves."

- "I think some of the lights are in the wrong place. Instead of a light at Riggs Street it should be at the RT 42 /67 intersection. We need one at the bottom of Governors Hill Rd & Rt 67 and maybe not one by that gas station near Seymour"

- "All in the wrong places, I have sat at Governor's Hill and Rte 67 many times, and God forbid you need to make a left hand turn. The school buses have a difficult time getting out, there should have been a light there and not on Riggs. So let the traffic nightmare begin when Haynes site is done."

- "End of Hogsback onto 67 or end of Governor's Hill onto 67. Either or both."

- "It seems like there are too many, but then there are several places where we need lights and don't have them."

- "From Jerrys market in Seymour to Southford Dunkin Donuts there are 16 traffic lights. There must be a better way!"

- "My father-in-law came very close to losing his life in a horrible accident at the bottom of Riggs and 67 before the traffic light was put in. It wasn't long after that incident it was put up."

- "The Riggs St light was put in to slow down traffic after a fatality. The preffered site was Chestnut Tree Hill Rd Ext but the State rejected it."

Is there a red light in Oxford you can’t stand? Is there an intersection that could desperately use a red light? Let us know on Facebook.