The knowledge on the effectiveness of police enforcement, its practices and interactions with other behaviour influences on road safety is reviewed from an European perspective. It is shown that after the beginning of the seventies our knowledge, both on the relation between specific behaviours and safety as well as between police enforcement and these behaviours, increased markedly. Also the interrelations between enforcement, societal norms, behavioural habit formation as well as effects of punishment and rewards are discussed. Optimal police enforcement strategies and optimised combination with other effective influences on road users are indicated on the basis of the acquired knowledge of the past twenty years. Last some needs for research on important unresolved topics on police enforcement and its influence on road user behaviour are discussed.
Abstract