In apparent disregard for the rules of the road, a motorist hits the gas as a traffic light turns red at a busy intersection. Red-light runners — an alarmingly common sight here — endanger the safety of pedestrians and other motorists.

That’s why Senate Bill 663, a measure that establishes a committee in the state Department of Transportation to recommend programs for red light cameras in every county, is a sensible step to address hazardous conditions on Hawaii’s road and highways.

For some motorists, mere mention of a camera prompts unpleasant flashbacks to a law the Legislature passed in 1998 to implement a traffic enforcement system known as “van cams,” which used photos to issue speeding tickets. Not long after the system’s launch in 2002, lawmakers repealed the law amid public perception that it was operated primarily to maximize revenue for the vendor.

SB 663, which has been approved by lawmakers and is headed to the governor’s desk, rightly avoids such perception by requiring that compensation for any vendor shall not be determined by the number of citations issued or expected to be issued.

Testimony supporting the bill points out that red light imaging detector systems are efficient and effective in identifying and deterring red-light runners in communities in nearly two dozen states. For safety’s sake — given that from 2011 to 2016 there were 1,616 intersection crashes in the islands due to red-light or other traffic signal violations, according to the state’s count — Hawaii should move forward with developing programs in each county.