EFFECTIVENESS OF TRAFFIC LAW ENFORCEMENT

This report describes a study undertaken to investigate the effects of varying levels of police enforcement on driver behavior and safety at urban intersections. While complete control over all variables was not achieved, making the definitive results originally hoped for unobtainable, the study did result in a number of significant findings. At half of the intersections studied, the increased police police enforcement was shown to have a significant effect on driver behavior which exhibited changes less characteristic of a learning process than an immediate and short-lived reaction to obvious police presence. While the data did not yield solid evidence to link these behavioral changes directly to probable accident reductions, it appeared that the types of driving behavior most likely to lead to conflicts and accidents were affected less by enforcement than were the more innocuous categories of violations. The results of the study would seem to indicate that while short-term benefits can be achieved from enforcement level increases, the law of diminishing returns may well be operative in the the most significant effects are likely to result from initial increases at low surveillance level locations with further increases producing little additional benefit.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transport Canada

  Road and Motor Vehicle Traffic Safety Branch
  Ottawa, ONo K1A 0N5,   Canada 
• Authors:
  • Cooper, P J
• Publication Date: 1974

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 60 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Benefits; Drivers; Intersections; Measures of effectiveness; Police traffic services; Prevention; Reaction time; Safety; Traffic law enforcement; Traffic safety; Traffic surveillance
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver reaction; Effectiveness; Violations
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00081589
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: CTS-6-74
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 8 1975 12:00AM