The present document is deliverable 3 (D3) ‘The impact of enforcement on accidents’, prepared for ESCAPE (Enhanced Safety Coming from Appropriate Police Enforcement). It summarizes evidence concerning the safety benefits resulting from traffic policing. The report begins with the reasons why enforcement should be expected to influence safety. It goes on to estimates the potential impact of enforcement and then deals with evidence on the actual impact enforcement has had on accidents. Theoretical estimates of the potential accident reduction impact of policing, based on enforcement inducing full compliance are fairly high, up to 50% reduction. Estimates based on statistical analysis of empirical studies suggest much lower estimates, with 10% being on the high end. Some well-implemented and sustained enforcement efforts have documented large safety gains, in the range of 25%. Typically these programs involved both speed and drink-driving control. Much of the evidence comes from increased enforcement efforts in projects and experiments restricted to either selected roads, to few behaviours or to a limited periods. In practice this means that in most projects there was temporary increase in local resources or shifting of resources to concentrate policing efforts in the selected area. A large and permanent increase in policing resources is not an attractive or feasible option in most countries. However, enforcement programs in Australia and New Zealand demonstrated substantial safety gains by policing with random deployment management of low intensity traffic surveillance. This was combined with automated photo-radar for speed detection and random breath tests. All these elements exist in routine enforcements programs in several European countries, many of which have as good or better safety record than the countries above. Therefore, such approach merits a more detailed examination and perhaps a more systematic application. (Author/publisher) For an overview off all working papers and deliverables of the ESCAPE project, see http://virtual.vtt.fi/virtual/proj6/escape/deliver.htm
Samenvatting