Traffic law enforcement has been defined as the area of activity aimed at controlling road user behaviour by preventative, persuasive and punitive measures in order to effect the safe and efficient movement of traffic (Zaal, 1994 after: OECD, 1974). Three elements are usually identified as being part of traffic law enforcement (Rothengatter, 1990): legal regulations and norms that define how the road transport system should be used safely and effectively, police which makes sure in an organised way that existing regulations are respected by all system users and a set of legal sanctions for those who have failed to comply, whatever the reason. Enforcement, together with engineering and education, is recognised as being one of the main ways of improving road safety. The success of enforcement is dependent on its ability to create a meaningful deterrent threat to road users (Zaal, 1994; ETSC, 2011). To achieve this, increasing surveillance levels are introduced to ensure that perceived apprehension risk is high, as is rising penalty severity and that procedures are in place to enable a quick and effective way to punish road traffic regulations violators. Traffic laws have to be known and accepted by road users. However, knowledge about traffic rules is a necessary but not sufficient condition for compliance. Sanction as a mechanism for getting people to obey the rules has a much greater effect when that sanction is compatible with the norms, values and the sense of justice held by the citizens themselves. Thus they are more likely to obey the rules they consider being important. Improving the enforcement of traffic laws was the second most frequently selected measure that governments should concentrate on in order to enhance road safety: roughly, four out of ten respondents (42%) chose this measure as either a first or a second priority for their government (European Commission, 2010). Despite these views, police enforcement surveys, including public opinion surveys, are relatively scarce. The ESRA questionnaire includes a few questions that provide information directly relevant to the enforcement issue. The chapters that follow present the experience of enforcement, including enforcement of particular behaviours such as drink- and drug—driving, subjective perception of risk detection, opinion on enforcement and finally attitudes towards new countermeasures which encourage, or force drivers to comply with traffic laws. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting