In all the debate I’ve witnessed so far over red-light cameras, the discussion seems to have centered around whether the mechanical eyes are a good or bad thing.

Almost nobody seems to have tried to ask — let alone answer — what I consider to be the deeper and more meaningful question: Why do people run red lights in the first place?

Let’s face it: If everybody obeyed traffic laws, there would be no need for red light cameras. As possibly the most revenue-stable city in the state, Redmond doesn’t need the money the cameras bring in. The cameras were not installed so Redmond police can play “gotcha” with residents and visitors. They’re there because too many people act as if they are practicing for the Daytona 500 when they’re behind the wheel. Keep in mind, red-light runners are not simply endangering themselves by driving recklessly. They are putting law-abiding citizens around them at risk of being seriously injured or killed.

Our mayor and city council don’t think that’s okay. That’s why they’ve empowered the Redmond police to collect useful photographic evidence of what’s going on at intersections, so officers may confront lawbreakers.

The cameras don’t actually record all movements; nor does the taking of a still picture indicate that a driver broke the law. State law places restrictions on how the city may operate and use the cameras, which is appropriate. Those restrictions are being observed.

Still, all that the cameras really are is a remedy for a symptom; they do not address the actual cause of the problem: reckless and distracted driving. There may not be one easy answer, but for a problem this serious, we haven’t done much investigation.

What causes people to drive fast and disregard traffic laws? I’ve come up with two principal answers (and there may be more). The first is that we’ve been building our neighborhoods with cars in mind instead of people. Look at how wide our roads are. Our arterials are more like traffic sewers than streets. They’re intimidating to pedestrians and bicyclists, but very inviting to would-be race-car drivers.

Contrary to what you might think, skinnier streets are much safer than wide roads. That’s because skinnier streets force drivers to slow down. The actual geometries of the road are key – signage is irrelevant.

“Posting speed limits to slow traffic on high-speed roads is futile, because people drive at the speed at which they feel safe – and teenagers drive at the speed at which they feel dangerous. Generally, the only time that people don’t speed in modern suburbia is when they are lost, which is, fortunately, quite often,” say the authors of Suburban Nation, a must-read book about the far-reaching side effects of sprawl.

So we need to build skinnier streets. We also need to rethink our intersections. Redmond’s Public Works team is starting to seriously look at roundabouts as an alternative to traffic lights in many places. They’ve seen the research showing that roundabouts are much safer and more effective at moving traffic. And they want to make use of that research. That’s great news for Redmond.

The second answer I’ve come up with is that we’ve become too obsessed with instant gratification as a society. Nobody seems to have any patience for anybody anymore; everybody’s always in a hurry. Is it any wonder, then, that we have trouble sharing the road? We don’t want to share it! We don’t want to have to yield, wait, or stop on the way to wherever it is we’re going. We’re not even willing to give other drivers our full attention. We act as if we’re at home in some multipurpose room that’s suitable for anything: Carrying on a phone conversation, applying cosmetics, eating a meal, enjoying loud music.

We have forgotten how to enjoy the journey.

We need to rethink our priorities as a society. We don’t value ourselves enough, let alone each other. And so, too often, we put ourselves and others at risk.

If we really want to reduce fatalities in intersections and not deal with a whole host of other problems, we have to confront some unpleasant truths about ourselves. Because all red-light cameras do is soothe a symptom. They will not – and cannot – put an end to reckless driving.

Andrew Villeneuve, a 2005 Redmond High graduate, is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, a Redmond-based grassroots organization. Villeneuve can be reached at andrew@nwprogressive.org. Go to http://npi.li/5t to read Villeneuve’s blog about traffic cameras.