The enforcement chain: traffic law enforcement and road safety targets

The Dutch government has set quantitative targets for road safety. In order to reach these road safety targets in the short term, it is argued that largescale police surveillance is essential. A review of the current state of affairs with regard to police surveillance in the Netherlands indicates that a nationwide, structured approach should be realised. This approach could make the targets attainable, if an enforcement chain is organized. This chain consists of the following links: the subjective and actual likelihood of the traffic offender being caught, an appropriate level of punishment, the certainty of being punished and a rapid enforcement of the punishment. It was further argued that enough knowledge was available and that it was a matter of translating this knowledge into a specific Dutch programme. SWOV sketched the outlines for a nation-wide programme of traffic law enforcement that is estimated to save 180 (15%) lives a year, and that could thus pay an important contribution to reach the Dutch road safety targets (SWOV, 1996). In the long term the development of a sustainably safe traffic system is expected to lessen the need for strict traffic law enforcement.