The Safe System approach to preventing traffic deaths and serious injuries requires us to rethink every aspect of our transportation system, from road and vehicle design to our pervasive car culture. Many communities have found that automated traffic enforcement is one valuable step along the way. As more of these systems are deployed, researchers continue building knowledge about how they work and where they are most effective.
speeding
Some bias is evident when ticketing speeders in Burlington, Vermont
The negative safety effects of speeding are well established. The enforcement of speed limits is justified to reduce crashes. But does officer discretion when giving tickets result in bias against one group or another? The results of an analysis of speeding stops in Burlington, VT, show that young drivers, male drivers, and drivers belonging to what the researchers termed a non-white “minority” group are more likely to receive a speeding ticket, rather than a warning.
Houston paper: Metro area worst in nation for traffic fatalities, speeding at fault
Reporters from the Houston Chronicle looked at 16 years of national data for traffic fatalities, and they were shocked by the statistics for their area. Houston has the deadliest overall traffic safety record for the 12 largest metro areas studied, and ranks in the top half in all categories of crashes. They identify speeding as the principal factor in the region’s safety problems, although a number of factors combine to make the area deadly.
Federally funded data as a speed-management tool
Another pedestrian fatality happened about two miles from SSTI Central when a car traveling over 100 mph hit a couple walking on the sidewalk along an urban boulevard. It is just one of some 40,000 traffic fatalities the United States is likely to see this year. SSTI has been interested in whether data now being provided to state DOTs in order to measure delay—the National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS)—might be applied to address speeding danger as well.
Drivers more likely to ignore crosswalks at speeds above 30 mph
According to a new study published by the Transportation Research Board, drivers traveling at higher speeds are also far less likely to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. The study, conducted in Boston, reveals that drivers are nearly four times more likely to yield for pedestrians at travel speeds around 20 miles per hour than at 40 mph.
Researchers explore links between speed and safety
As states experiment with increasing and lowering speed limits on rural highways, questions still remain as to what effects those changes might have on safety. At this year’s annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, researchers trying to answer some of those questions found that slower is safer.
What’s stopping automated speed enforcement?
Automated speed enforcement systems have proven effective in U.S. cities, but despite the proven safety benefits of ASE and its prevalence internationally, it has been adopted in only 14 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. A recent case study of Washington, DC’s experience provides strong evidence for the safety benefits of speed enforcement cameras. A 2012 survey in Minnesota found that a slight majority of respondents supported the concept of ASE and over 80 percent supported the use of ASE in construction and survey zones. So what’s stopping increased adoption?
Instant rewards, penalties, and feedback are shown to change driver behavior
A new study shows that tiny financial losses can improve motorists’ compliance with speed limits. The study’s researchers found that the psychology of losing money, even just a few pennies, as well as the instant feedback of seeing the money trickling away, almost completely eliminated speeding. Hybrid drivers often experience the same instant feedback by watching their dashboard mileage monitor in real time. As drivers become more comfortable with continuous monitoring of vehicle operations and instant feedback on their own behavior, both safety and efficiency can be expected to improve.