In this report the results are presented of a study that was carried out in the framework of an ongoing project on selective traffic law enforcement on speeding behavior. The study has been carried out in collaboration with the state police department in the district of groningen and several local and municipal police departments also participated in various stages of the study. This study was designed to determine the influence of a publicity campaign about speeding behavior, in support of selective traffic law enforcement, on speeding behavior on roads with a speed limit of 80 km/h. During a three week period, a publicity campaign about speeding behavior on roads with a speed limit of 80 km/h was organised in the province of groningen. The publicity campaign was multimedial and included press publications, information leaflets, stickers and posters, posters along the roadsides and personal letters sent to regular road-users. Before, during and after the publicity campaign continuous speed measurements were carried out on two roads in the province groningen. During the publicity campaign selective traffic law enforcement was performed on one of these two roads. At the end of the campaign a mail questionnaire survey was held among regular road-users of both of the above mentioned roads. Car drivers who received a personal mailing were also sent a questionnaire. The results demonstrate that the publicity campaign on its own was able to produce a large average speed reduction during a short period of time. After the campaign was ended no residual effects in terms of speed reduction were found. However, the publicity campaign in combination with selective traffic law enforcement, produced a large reduction of the mean speed, over a five week period. The effect of the publicity campaign appeared mainly to be due to the roadside posters, the press publications and personal mailing.
Abstract