Impact of automated photo enforcement of vehicle speed in school zones: interrupted time series analysis

Abstract

ObjectiveMeasure the impact of automated photo speed enforcement in school zones on motorist speed and speeding violation rates during school travel.MethodsAutomated enforcement cameras, active during school commuting hours, were installed around four elementary schools in Seattle, Washington, USA in 2012. We examined the effect of automated enforcement on motorist speeds and speed violation rates during the citation period (10 December 2012 to 15 January 2015) compared with the ‘warning’ period (1 November to 9 December 2012). We evaluated outcomes with an interrupted time series approach using multilevel mixed linear regression.ResultsMotorist speed violation rates decreased by nearly half in the citation period compared with the warning period (standardised incident rate ratio 0.53, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.66). The hourly maximum violation speed and mean hourly speeds decreased 2.1 MPH (95% CI –2.88 to –1.39) and 1.1 MPH (95% CI –1.64 to – 0.60), respectively. The impact of automated enforcement was sustained during the second year of implementation.ConclusionAutomated photo enforcement of speed limit in school zones was effective at reducing motorist speed violations and also achieved a significant reduction in mean motorist speed.

Challenges of enforcing cellphone use while driving laws among police in the USA: a cross-sectional analysis

“…36 Even though automated traffic enforcement can deter risky driver behaviour and the American public is mildly in favour of it for enforcing certain traffic violations, it is highly politicised and illegal in several states. [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] As this was not specifically asked in the survey, it is not clear if this technology would help with cellphone law enforcement as a picture may not reveal what the driver is doing on their cellphone at the time of the infraction. Thus, more research and rigorous evaluations of interventions are clearly needed.…”

The growing gap in pedestrian and cyclist fatality rates between the United States and the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands, 1990–2018

“…That is partly due to stricter police enforcement in Europe (Luoma & Sivak, 2014;NHTSA, 2011;OECD, 2006;Weijeremars & Wegman, 2011). Use of automated cameras to detect, document, and ticket motorists speeding or running red traffic lights is widespread in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, and the UK (Delaney, Ward, & Cameron, 2005;European Commission, 2020;Quistberg, Thompson, Curtin, Rivara, & Ebel1, 2019;Thomas, Srinivasan, Decina, & Staplin, 2008). Tickets are often issued automatically, including a photo of the offending motorist and the car's license plate.…”

State-of-the-art review: preventing child and youth pedestrian motor vehicle collisions: critical issues and future directions

“…64 Results from a pilot-project in Seattle (USA) are promising, including a reduction in speed violation rates and mean hourly vehicle speeds. 65 Finally, it appears that many education campaigns run by police departments target pedestrians and their behaviours, including distraction, rather than drivers. However, there is no evidence that distracted pedestrians are the cause for the high burden of pedestrian collisions, either for adults or children.…”