Last month attendees of the Speed Safety Camera Program Planning and Operations Guideline’s webinar received an update of what is going on with the speed program in the country.
Several driver risk factors were discussed to increase the quality of new programs when they are needed.
Based on her experience and best practices from cities in the US, Ms. Libby Thomas, Senior Research Associate at the University of North Carolina, Highway Safety Research Center, gave us a tremendous overview of what should be addressed when speed enforcement is the object.
Transparency, equity, focus on safety, planning, data, public engagement were examples of keywords during the section.
One of the main factors to achieving an efficient speed the program starts with a site selection by doing the comparison demographic data and crash involvement.
It is very important to get the community involved in this process, not only the vehicles owners but also pedestrians, cyclists, people who depend on the traffic safety on a daily basis and could tell their stores in order to clarify how real the problem is.
Exploring some of the good examples Ms. Thomas explored during the webinar was New York City where school zones relied on crash history, speed data, proximity to the highways, and judgment by the engineers to implement the program.
The success is shown by its numbers. According to Mr. Stephen Heiny, Research Associate at the University of North Carolina, Highway Safety Research Center, the period between 2014 and 2016, reflecting a 63% reduction of speed, 81% of the vehicle owners received the violation notice only one time, 57% reduction fatalities and 14% of traffic injuries.
The benefits vary and having a fixed system guarantees consistent enforcement in comparison with non-camera locations. Revenues go to school traffic safety and pedestrian programs.
Nowadays, New Yorkers advocate to the system.
In Portland, the speed program is part of the Vision Zero campaign.
Seattle shows how important is the publicity sign of the program, and because of it, cases have dropped in the city.
Another amazing result was in Minnesota where people changed the perception of the program after its result.
Even though people have their concerns speed program is an important tool towards the behavior changes.
According to the 2019 Traffic Safety Culture Index produced by AAA Foundation, a survey based on more than 2,700 U.S. motorists, shows 48% of drivers drove 15 mph over the speed limit on a freeway.
In addition, 53% of drivers who have been involved in crashes, admitted to having driven 10 mph over the speed limit on a residential street. It should be better than this.
These statistics show bad behavior that should be fixed. At the end of the day, lives to matter the most in this equation.
FTA continuously pays attention to the numbers and puts itself available to build a speed program based on the high quality of products, best practices, technical resources, and transparency.
Certainly, important factors to face the dangerous reality on the roads.
If you want to see more regarding AAA 2019 Traffic Safety Culture Index:
2019 Traffic Safety Culture Index
Degoncir Goncalves.