Details:

Creators:
Stuster, Jack, 1947-
Corporate Creators:
Anacapa Sciences, inc.
Corporate Contributors:
United States. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Subject/TRT Terms:
[+]
Field Tests Impact Studies Public Information Programs Speeding Speedometers Traffic Accidents Traffic Law Enforcement Traffic Safety
Publication/ Report Number:
DOT-HS-808-325 ; NTIS-PB96131677
DOT-HS-808-325 ; NTIS-PB96131677 Less -
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21949/1525401
Resource Type:
Research Paper
Geographical Coverage:
California
Edition:
Final report
Contracting Officer:
Morford, Garrett
Corporate Publisher:
United States. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Abstract:
Three California communities were selected to participate in the study on the basis of comparability and isolation from each other. Two of the communities' police departments implemented special speed enforcement programs focused on six zones within each community. The third community refrained from implementing any special traffic enforcement effort for the six-month duration of the programs, provided crash, speed, and crime data for six comparable control zones, and served as a comparison site in the quasi-experiment. Officers in both experimental communities spent, on average, more than 8 hours each week conducting radar and laser-assisted speed enforcement in each of the special enforcement zones. Project staff also organized traffic safety program support committees in the experimental communities. The committees planned and implemented extensive publicity programs to elevate public awareness of the special enforcement efforts. Crash, speed sample, and crime data were obtained from the participating police departments and a statewide reporting system. The primary dependent measure of program impact was the incidence of injury, fatal, and property damage only crashes in which unsafe speed, following-too-closely, or right-of-way violation was the primary collision factor. No significant differences in effectiveness between the two special enforcement programs were found. However, the experimental communities experienced declines in the numbers of speed-related crashes of 11.3% and 1.1%, while the same categories of crashes increased by 3.4% in the comparison community. A statistically significant reduction in speed-related crashes was found in one of the experimental communities. Times series analysis found no significant declines in all crashes, suggesting that program effects were confined to the primary collision factors associated with vehicle speed. Further, unobtrusive measures of vehicle speed found 19% and 10% declines in the numbers of vehicles exceeding the limits in the two experimental communities, while the numbers of speeders declined by only 3% in the comparison community. The incidence of Part I and Part II crimes in the special enforcement and control zones was analyzed for all three communities. Both experimental communities experienced statistically significant declines in the incidence of the only type of Part I crime that is equally likely to occur during daylight hours as at night (i.e., when the special enforcement was conducted). Paired samples analyses found the 11% and 12% declines in larceny/theft to be statistically significant, and attributable to the deterrence effects of the special enforcement programs; larceny/theft declined by only 1.7% statewide and increased by 4% in the control zones of the comparison community. Overall, the research showed that municipal speed enforcement programs can have significant, positive effects on measures of public opinion, traffic safety, and crime. /Abstract from report summary page/
Format:
PDF
Funding:
DTNH22-93-C-05172
Collection(s):
NHTSA - Behavioral Safety Research
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:1d45fb3180967863e1031d92b9b82e36539270bc24b4866c18c7ea1fe2897558
Download URL:
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/1609/dot_1609_DS1.pdf
File Type:

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