I actually did a paper about red light cameras a few years back. They do decrease the incidence of "T-Bone" crashes at intersections but they increase the rate of rear-end collisions even more.
Imagine that there are 3 zones as you approach an intersection. A "Must Stop" zone, a zone of decision and a "Must Go" zone. If the light turns yellow while you are in the "Must stop" zone then you have to stop, if it turns yellow while you are in the "Must Go" zone then you must keep going and if the light turns yellow in the zone of decision the driver must make a judgement call. What these damn cameras do is shrink the "Must Go" zone and expand the zone of decision toward the intersection. The result is more people slamming on brakes and getting rear-ended because they are more worried about getting a ticket than whether or not they can stop safely.
I also found instances of the yellow light time at red light camera intersections being mysteriously shortened as if to catch more people running red. And looking at accident statistics in my local area showed that they weren't putting the cameras at the most dangerous intersections which one would suspect if the point were really to decrease accidents.
Science is to computer science as hydrodynamics is to plumbing.