In response to increasing highway speeds, the New York State Police undertook a comprehensive speed enforcement program focusing on interstates in the upstate region of New York. A special target was "professional speeders", drivers who exceed the speed limit by the widest margins and are able to evade the police through the use of radar detectors and CB radios. The project provided for a structured implementation of ten different innovative and more traditional enforcement strategies and a comparison of the effectiveness and productivity of the strategies. In addition, the impact of increased speed enforcement on vehicle speed and crashes was assessed. Speeders tended to be male, under 35 years of age and driving passenger vehicles. In general, the strategies, such as aerial enforcement, that did not use radar were more effective and productive with professional speeders than strategies using radar. The exception was the single-Trooper radar operation called routine enforcement. Although the strategies involving the airplane had higher costs per ticket, such other benefits as general deterrence effects, should also be considered. The cost per ticket of even the most expensive strategy was still much less than the average fine collected from speeders. The results of the project indicate that the State Police were successful in targeting professional speeders and that this success was reflected in decreasing numbers of drivers travelling at the highest rates of speed, and ultimately in reductions in the number of fatal crashes and in the number of fatalities and serious injuries suffered. (Author/publisher)
Abstract