Residential Speeding in Raleigh, North Carolina

Community concerns about speeding in Raleigh, North Carolina, a city of 300,000, have traditionally been a priority of the Raleigh Police Department. Officers issued nearly 25,000 speeding citations in 2001 and more than 40% were on roadways posted at 35 mph or less - residential areas or school zones that experience few collisions but reflect citizen concerns. Police undertook a problem-solving effort focused on improving speeding in one school zone where more than 3,500 students attended adjacent three schools. In 2001, police had issued nearly 300 citations for speeding on the roadway for speeds averaging 38 mph - 13 mph over the posted speed. Speeding was attributed to high school drivers and commuter traffic. To learn more about speeding in the location, police examined citations, conducted speed studies and surveyed drivers who were speeding. Analysis showed that the primary speeders were parents of children attending the three schools; youthful drivers and commuters constituted a small portion of the problem. Raleigh police strategically targeted an educational effort on likely speeders, distributing a flyer about speeding risks to parents in school carpool lanes. Among other responses, police also focused on educating these likely offenders and others about actual speeds through speed display signs. The proportion of drivers complying with the speed limit more than doubled when the educational effort occurred. Although some of this impact deteriorated within the first week of the project, much of the reduction was maintained. Comparison of data before the project and three weeks later showed a 42% increase in compliance with speed limits in the morning and a 59% increase in the afternoon school zone period. While police in the city had not previously used speed studies to determine the amount of speeding in locations, they plan to use such data in the future to develop priorities and evaluate the impact of their efforts and monitor problem areas over time.

• Record URL:
  • http://www.popcenter.org/Library/researcherprojects/Speeding.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Department of Justice

  Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
  145 N Street, NE
  Washington, DC    20530

  North Carolina State University, Raleigh

  Raleigh, NC  United States  27695
• Authors:
  • Weisel, Deborah Lamm
• Publication Date: 2004-8

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 32p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Before and after studies; Commuters; Parents; Residential areas; Speed zones; Speeding; Surveys; Teenage drivers; Traffic citations; Traffic safety education; Traffic violations
• Geographic Terms: Raleigh (North Carolina)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01358987
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 16 2011 2:47PM