This report describes the results of an evaluation of the crash effects of Random Road Watch, a traffic policing program currently in operation in Queensland. The difference between Random Road Watch (RRW) and conventional traffic policing is the resource management technique used for scheduling Police enforcement in a manner intended to maximise road safety benefits. Extensively developed from the original model used in the USA, the technique involves dividing each Police jurisdiction into a number of sectors, and the week into a number of time blocks. The sector to be visited and the time at which it is to be visited are assigned randomly. Enforcement involves conspicuous stationing of a marked police vehicle in the chosen sector. Analysis of the effects of the Queensland Random Road Watch program on crash frequency has shown the program to be effective overall in producing a significant 11 percent reduction in crashes in aggregate. Further, the program was effective in producing a significant reduction in crashes of all severities in all police regions except Metropolitan South. In the areas outside metropolitan Brisbane, the estimated program effects were largest on fatal crashes. Crash reductions attributable to the program were estimated to increase with time after program introduction. Whilst crash effects of the program were estimated to be uniform on fatal crashes across areas of Queensland outside of Brisbane, there was significant variation in program effects on non-fatal crashes between Police regions and urban and rural areas. Translation of the estimated RRW program crash effects into crash cost savings shown the Queensland program to have saved an estimated $109 million in the first 12 months after full implementation rising to an estimated saving of $163 million in the third year after full implementation. (A)
Abstract