In this study, the social acceptance of automatic policing and information systems was investigated amongst road users and relevant social actors. A questionnaire was designed to analyse the social and cultural factors affecting attitudes towards and the acceptance of three different types of enforcement systems: on-site systems, in-vehicle systems and interactive, integrated systems. The questionnaire was distributed amongst 3000 drivers in Spain, Norway and the Netherlands. About 63% of the questionnaires were returned. Furthermore, relevant social actors were interviewed to identify possible societal and political problems in introducing the envisaged systems. Acceptance of the proposed systems appears to be dependent on country, type of system, perceived negative consequences, attitudes towards traffic violations, and the type of offenses the system would be capable of addressing. In general, introduction of the systems is considered acceptable by the majority of road users. Onsite systems are much more readily accepted than in-vehicle or interactive, integrated systems. Systems addressing subjectively serious violations, such as drinking-driving are more acceptable while application to illegal parking is not considered acceptable. Misuse of the systems for increasing tax revenue rather than increasing road safety was identified as a major problem by the experts interviewed. Reliance on the legal system to process registered violations would pose operational problems due to inherent legal inefficiencies and problems of a more political nature. This applies particularly to in-vehicle and integrated systems. It is therefore recommended that the proposed systems function primarily as information-providing, advisory systems and that in conjunction with these systems incentive schemes are developed to increase traffic law compliance. (A)
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