There was a time — May 25, 1965 to be exact — when at least 30 million Americans actually acted as if they cared about how safely they drove.

It was the date of the National Drivers Test.

The test was a CBS documentary narrated by Walter Cronkite and Mike Wallace.

It aired at 10 p.m. that evening.

Nielsen reported it was the most watched program of the week with roughly 50 million viewers.

At least 30 million Americans who obtained test forms from various sources took part in the test developed in conjunction with the National Safety Council and sponsored by Shell Oil.

Various driving scenarios were presented with true false or multiple choice answers.

Some 2,000 real-time test takers in studios in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles were being electronically scored.

Collectively, they got 51 out of 80 questions correct.

What brings this jaunt down memory lane to the innocent days where road rage incidents and carjacking were essentially non-existent and the response to moronic moves was emulating Mr. Magoo with his “road hog” rant while waving his fist instead of extending the middle finger and brandishing a gun is the start of Manteca’s Red Light Camera Era.

Given the 30-day grace period ended Monday at the Daniels Street and Airport Way intersection, it will be a matter of a week or so until the first $490 ticket arrives in the mail.

Judging by some of the social media outrage about even deploying the red light cameras  — it isn’t fair, it’s rigged, it’s all about the money, it’s illegal, it’s going to cause more accidents — before someone will be reading the Manteca City Council the riot act.

The truth, be told, there is essentially no such thing as a traffic accident.

Someone does or doesn’t do something to cause a collision.

►Driving too fast for conditions (the basic California speed law).

►Unsafe turns or lane changes.

►Running red lights, running stop signs, or failing to yield the right of way.

►Texting while driving or hand-holding a cellphone while driving.

►Following too closely.

►Other forms of distracted driving.

►Failing to maintain a vehicle properly.

Sorry, but being aware of the vehicle you’re driving — bald tires, soft brakes, steering issues — and doing so something about it even if it is not operating the vehicle until the problem is addressed — is a tenet of driving responsibility.

Malfunctioning equipment — think factory recalls — are kind of an accident in it’s not your fault but clearly the manufacturer is at fault.

About the only thing that might be an accident is someone losing control from a sudden stroke/heart attack or dying from natural causes while driving.

There are more than 1,000 traffic accidents, excluding minor fender benders that involve just a dent, each year on Manteca’s streets.

Hundreds are injured.

A few are killed.

Property damage, based on National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data on non-injury collisions, exceeds $7,000 per occurrence.

Taking driving seriously can save us a lot of money and pain.

Traffic collisions are preventable.

Clamping down on red light running is the most effective way of doing so.

That’s because more than 20 percent of the collisions in Manteca has running a red light as a major contributing factor.

And since they are stationary, targeted technology that can be expensive in order to meet the ironclad state and judicial standards for fairness is do-able.

It is impossible to station a police officer at every intersection, unless you are willing to pay a 100 percent or so sales tax.

And if you did have an officer working an intersection, pursuing red light runners often put the officer and other motorists’ safety in jeopardy.

Then there is the “he said/she said” argument if a person who is cited opts to challenge the ticket.

To be clear, the courts — after the system Manteca is using that Tracy and Modesto are also installing at select intersections as well had been thoroughly vetted — have signed off.

That approval also requires a trained law enforcement official reviewing the data to make sure it meets all legal criteria and the image of the driver matches the person who the vehicle is registered to before a citation is issued.

In addition, the state legislature adopted rigid standards for jurisdictions that deploy red light cameras that prevent them from operating them as a trap by having visible signage and such as well as requiring systems to be revenue neutral.

If we drive like we are supposed to, we don’t have to worry about getting a $490 ticket.

Manteca receives only $100 of each $490 ticket.

The rest goes to the court system and the state.

The city won’t end up keeping a cent unless more than 2,200 red light traffic tickets are issued a year. That’s what it will take to cover the cost of having American Traffic Systems install and operate the cameras.

If Manteca comes up short, they owe ATS nothing.

That said, the contract is maximized for ATS if an average of almost six red light tickets are issued on any given day.

It sounds like a lot of red light running, but experienced traffic officers say that would be a mere trickle compared to what it is today.

And while there are a handful that are always going to drive like jerks, the ripple effect of the red light cameras, as has been experienced elsewhere, is for the majority of drivers to back off trying to beat red lights at all controlled intersections.

If that happens, the red light cameras could end up being the most cost effective way of reducing carnage on Manteca’s streets considering it isn’t costing taxpayers a cent.

As far as it being fair, it is much fairer than allowing drivers that constantly ignore traffic rules because they operate on the principle they are the center of the universe to terrorize others with their hits and near misses running red lights.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com