OPERATION 500-BACKGROUND REPORT

OPERATION 500 WAS THE DEMONSTRATION CONDUCTED TO SHOW THAT A CONCENTRATION OF ENFORCEMENT IN SPECIFIC LOCATIONS WOULD REDUCE TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS FOR SHORT PERIODS OF TIME. A RADAR SPEED STUDY CONDUCTED IN 1960 GAVE SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE THAT BLACK AND WHITE PATROL CARS WHICH WERE VISIBLE TO THE MOTORING PUBLIC PROVED EFFECTIVE IN REDUCING SPEED REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE PATROL CAR WAS MOVING IN TRAFFIC OR PARKED ALONGSIDE THE ROADWAY. A STUDY IN DEPTH WAS CONDUCTED TO INVESTIGATE THIS PREMISE AS APPLIED TO U.S. 101 IN THE OCEANSIDE AREA. IT WAS A "BEFORE AND AFTER" STUDY OF DOUBLING THE PATROL ON THE ROADWAY. THE RESULTS OF OPERATION 101 SHOWED SIGNIFICANT ACCIDENT REDUCTION. THE KNOWLEDGE GAINED IN OPERATION 101, THE SPECIAL ENFORCEMENT UNIT STUDIES, AND THE RADAR STUDY, ALL CONTRIBUTED TO THE BASIC IDEA OF OPERATION 500. THE CORE OF THE STUDY WAS TO ALLOCATE AN ADDITIONAL 500 POSITIONS TO MAJOR ACCIDENT ROADWAYS, STUDY THEIR DEPLOYMENT ON ALL ACTIVITIES AND COMPARE THIS WITH PREDEPLOYMENT ACTIVITIES. THE PLACERVILLE STUDY WAS ESTABLISHED TO TEST AND VALIDATE RESULTS WHICH HAD BEEN OBTAINED FROM OPERATION 101. THE ROADWAYS EXHIBITED SIMILAR CHARACTERISTICS, BUT THE PLACERVILLE STUDY WAS CARRIED ON FOR 24 MONTHS AS COMPARED TO THE 12 MONTHS' DURATION OF OPERATION 101. THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA STUDY WAS CONCERNED WITH THE EFFECT OF INCREASED MANPOWER WHERE THE TRAFFIC: (1) WAS DRAWN TO A POINT OF INTEREST, AND (2) ALL INGRESS AND EGRESS ROUTES TO THIS POINT OF INTEREST COULD BE COVERED. THIS PROVIDED A TRUE SATURATION TYPE STUDY. THE THIRD STUDY CONDUCTED AS A PART OF OPERATION 500 DEALT WITH THE EFFECT OF MANPOWER ON STRIP TYPE GRAFFIC. THIS WAS EXEMPLIFIED BY INTERSTATE 10, THE SAN BERNARDINO FREEWAY, AND INTERSTATE 5, THE SANTA ANNA FREEWAY IN THE LOS ANGELES BASIN. EACH DEMONSTRATES MAJOR ENVIRONMENT CHARACTERISTICS WHICH REQUIRE SERVICES OF A CONTINUING HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM WHOSE DEMANDS ARE GENERATED BY THE CITIES ADJACENT TO THE ROUTE AND NOT NECESSARILY BEING DRAWN TO ONE LOCATION AS EXHIBITED IN SAN FRANCISCO. THE PLANS FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE DATA FROM THIS STUDY ARE REVIEWED.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Final Rept 2, 47 PP, 2 APP
• Corporate Authors:

  Calfornia Highway Patrol

  P.O. Box 942898
  Sacramento, CA  United States  94298-0001
• Publication Date: 1970-1

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Before and after studies; Crash rates; Highway capacity; Law enforcement; Percent saturation; Personnel; Police patrol; Prevention; Radar devices; Safety; Traffic crashes
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00220850
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 1 1970 12:00AM