EFFECTS AND ACCEPTANCE OF ENFORCEMENT. SUMMARY.

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1 EFFECTS AND ACCEPTANCE OF ENFORCEMENT. Jan Malenstein, National Police Agency, Traffic and Transport Division. PO box 100, 3970 AC Driebergen, The Netherlands. Phone: , fax: , SUMMARY. In December 1993 a pilot for Continuous Applied Speed Enforcement (CASE 1) was started by the National Police Agency and the Ministry Of Transport. Before this pilot the speed limit was violated by 35% of the motorists, increasing to almost 70% during the night hours. During this pilot the average of violators was 3%; realisation of an objective of max. 10% violation on 100 km/hr segments appeared to be feasible. Road users support these continuous speed enforcement by 71% and approve extension to other road segments. The results led to institutionalisation in 1995, becoming a part of daily operational procedure. Next to this, a major technology step was taken in 1998 and 1999, a pilot on using fully automated digital image processing and trajectory control, combined with fully automated processing. FIRST STEP, CONTINUOUS APPLIED SPEED ENFORCEMENT. From December 1993 to April 1994 a pilot for Continuous Applied Speed Enforcement (CASE 1 ) was executed by the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Transport on the A-2 between Utrecht and Amsterdam. Objective was the adaptation of their speed by motorists on this road segment to existing speed limits. This pilot was established as a result of the findings that since the beginning of structural speed enforcement in may 1988 by the KLPD as a result of the introduction of general speed limits, the behaviour of motorists stabilised to a level of major violation. It was expected that this could be reversed by an applied and intensive approach in which enforcement and communication for a specific stretch of road were combined and a great variation of times and locations of speed traps was exercised. As it concerned a first pilot, evaluation was crucial and of major importance for the structural implementation of CASE. Speed enforcement was not be a goal in itself but it was triggered by the objective to reduce the number of traffic casualties by 25% in the year

2 SPEED DEVELOPMENTS. Based on two permanent loop detectors at the end and the beginning of the trajectory the development of average speed during CASE could be monitored. Both locations showed a clear decrease of average speed and V85 (lorries) speed after the start of CASE. Due to the fact that not only average speed but also V85 speed decreased, the total spectrum of speeds has become smaller and extreme peaks occur less. Still for lorries the effect of CASE is more difficult to calculate. In general, after a first steep decrease of speed at the beginning of CASE, a slight increase of the average speed was noted during the course of the project. This suggested that after the first initialisation period traffic adapted and a better traffic flow and less congestion resulted from this. The calculation of congestion reduction, based on the normal Dutch Queue Index, up to September 1994, showed a 40% reduction of queues compared to the same period in 1993 (Source: Traffic Research Centre Rijkswaterstaat). EFFECTS ON SAFETY. For this first step no data were available on cause and gravity of accidents. A global comparison of the total number of accidents can was to be considered as an indication for the eventual effect of CASE on traffic safety. Compared to the global number of accidents in the previous 3 years, in which numbers increased, by the year, it was indicated that in the first quarter of 1994, during CASE, the global number decreased. OVERALL RESULT. The effect of this first step of CASE on the A-2 was clearly visible; Speed violations had reduced, average speed had decreased and extreme speed violation became an exception. Reactions from motorists, road authorities and from loop speed data the impression has appeared that the average speed during the rush hours has increased and that there has been a shift from the left to the middle and right lanes. The objective to reduce the total speed violation to 5% was met for the 120 km/hr segments. This was not met for the 100 km/hr segments but the total of speed violations reduced drastically. Based on the decrease of the average speed a calculation was made by the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Ordnance and Environment on the impact on the environment of CASE. As a result of these calculation CASE was acknowledged to have a positive impact on the environment. It was estimated that as a result of this fuel consumption was reduced by 6% and that emissions of carbonchloride and carbonmonoxyde were reduced by 2 and 10%. 2

3 SECOND STEP, CONTINUATION AND EXPANSION OF CASE. The results of this second step cover the period from march to September After the success of this first step, the KLPD set an overall policy regarding speed enforcement up to the year 2010; this policy has three corner stones: Traffic safety Environment Energy In % less people killed and 40% less injuries than in 1985 In % less casualties than in 1985 In 2010 max tonnes of Nitrogen oxide by road traffic. In 2000 max tonnes of Nitrogen oxide by road traffic In 2010 max. 19,3 million tonnes of Carbon dioxide by road traffic. In 2000 max. 12,6 million tonnes of Carbon dioxide by road traffic In : fuel reduction of 20% per kilometre. The overall target will be: In the year 2000 speed limit violations will be reduced to a maximum of 10%. Continuous Applied Speed Enforcement will be the tool for this; CASE 2 is the successor of CASE 1, realising the extension of coverage of the A-2 southbound according to the same criteria as CASE 1 and executed with the same methodology. ACCIDENTS. The total of registered accidents decreased with nearly 10%, while at the same time the number of injured people decreased with 25%. It is not yet entirely clear if this a continuing trend. The total numbers of accidents during 1996 will have to be studied to clarify this. The number of people killed cannot be stated for sure as a result of this second step. The total number was too small; this could also be accidentally. Further study will have to clarify this as well. In December 1996, so two years after the first implementation of CASE, a Dutch newspaper presented that accidents on motorways decreased overall by 15% in the last 2 years. A clear link was made to CASE as this had already been extended in a major way after the first step. 3

4 SPEED VIOLATIONS.. Percentage violators 1 This figure shows the clear and definite impact of this second step. For the 100 km/hr trajectory the percentage of violators decreased by 18 % to ca 10% related to the Zero measurement while for the 120 km/hr trajectory the percentage decreased by 50%. Striking is the short period of time to achieve the target. ENVIRONMENT. As with CASE 1 also for CASE 2 the impact on the environment was calculated, using a model from the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Ordnance and Environment. As a result of CASE 2 the outcome was calculated as: CarbonMonoxide Nitrogen oxide Carbon dioxide Hydro carbon Sulphur dioxide Particles kg less kg less kg less 4000 kg less kg less kg less It was also calculated that during the period of 18 months of CASE 2 a total amount of 2.8 million litres of fuel was saved. 4

5 Less in kg Nitrogen oxide Carbon dioxide Hydro carbon Sulphur dioxide Particles THIRD STEP; THE A-2 TRAJECTORY CONTROL SYSTEM. Based on the clear success of CASE a project was developed by Rijkswaterstaat and KLPD to automate the enforcement process and to enhance the functionality of speed enforcement on motorways. Basic features of this pilot were:!"trajectory control in stead of point control.!"fully automated roadside digital image processing.!"fully automated fine processing. After some first trials using handheld computers and real policemen a pilot started on the A-2 motorway between Utrecht and Amsterdam at the end of 1997, using digital image processing, combined with trajectory control and fully automated processing. The camera's covered 3 lanes over a length of 3 km and were cross referenced. The pilot was put in operation after first having jurisprudence on this new technology and methodology and so far the results have proven that the technology worked in a reliable manner; also effects on traffic behaviour and speed harmonisation became clearly visible. At the processing end a considerable reduction of throughput time and workload for staff was achieved. 5

6 The system served three purposes: OBJECTIVES OF THE SYSTEM.!"To improve the safety on the road. As the results of Continuous Applied Speed Enforcement (CASE) have shown, continuous speed enforcement will decrease the number of accidents. It is envisaged that continuous enforcement will be able to decrease accidents by 25%. Translated in social economic terms considerable savings in health care and insurance costs can be obtained.!"to improve the traffic flow. Also the results of the Continuous Applied Speed Enforcement have shown that because of the traffic calming effect of enforcement a nearly 40% reduction of congestion on normally heavy congested roads (motorways) can be achieved.!"to automate the enforcement process. This has a major positive impact on the efficiency of processing protocols. Not only the workload for the operators can be reduced drastically but there is also a positive result concerning the total processing time that leads to receiving the fine by mail within 7 or 10 days. Thus the motorist is confronted with his offence nearly on the spot but certainly in a way that he still can remember it. This has proven to change the attitude of motorists towards speeding in a positive way. DIFFERENCES WITH EXISTING SYSTEMS (1). This system was at the introduction arguably the first of its kind in the world. It differs from existing systems on a number of details:!"it is the world's first fully automated enforcement system. Fully automated means from the detection of the violation up to the delivery of the ticket at the offender, the complete chain is covered.!"the system measures the average speed which is much more effective and safe.!"the system is able to determine the different classes of vehicles (trucks, cars, motorcycles etc).!"the total throughput time is probably the shortest in the world (within one week).!"along the roadside the system is based on commercialised image technology, derived from the Defence industry (object recognition, for example used in the Gulf war in missiles).!"it is a fully unmanned system, operating round the clock, 24 hrs a day and 7 days a week. After the pilot findings and conclusions were: FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS.!"The accuracy of the system concerning the object recognition has proven to be extremely good; during 24/hrs a day operation the accuracy is 99,7 %.!"For the recognition of license plates this is less for several reasons: the high angle of view of the cameras, obstructions, foreign license plates (the system only recognises Dutch license plates up to now), worn license plates. 6

7 !"Already during the Continuous Applied Speed Enforcement pilot (executed on the same stretch of road) the maximum percentage of violators for the 120 km/hr trajectory dropped to about 6% but it is now even less.!"due to this system the number of speed violations was reduced further down by 90%, from 6 % to 0,6 %.!"The average speed of 72 mph reduced to 66 mph.!">80 % of the violators were processed automatically.!"the speed calculation accuracy deviated only <1%.!"Further more the accident rate on the trajectory has dropped and congestion has decreased also because there is a clearly visible traffic smoothing effect.!"as stated already the throughput time has been reduced to 7 or 10 days so violators are served nearly on the spot.!"the workload for the operators at the Central Processing unit has been reduced drastically.!"the time consuming and polluting process of the development of wet film can be abolished completely if the system proves to be viable for full implementation along the motorway network of the Netherlands. It is expected that then even the workload for the operators will reduce further, leading to less staff. As it looks now the system is effective for enforcement, traffic calming and traffic safety and (cost) efficient for operation and processing. ACCEPTANCE. Both for the first two steps of CASE and trajectory control is was of importance to know how the motorist feels about this enforcement. Questionnaires among motorist and interviews showed a surprisingly high rate of acceptance. The methodology of CASE combined with a clear and ongoing communication with the motorist was appreciated because of the structured approach. Random enforcement was generally felt to be really random and unfair while with this structured approach the motorist knew that enforcement was active all the time and that he/she was made aware of this. In a certain way motorist felt comfortable on this and did not have to gamble all the time. For the trajectory control the acceptance rate was the same and even slightly better. Motorists experienced that there was no escape and accepted this as a fact of life. The side effects of traffic calming and a better use of the infrastructure were appreciated. The methodology of trajectory control converted the snapshot approach into a more flexible method for the motorist because there is a certain rate now in which he can operate and can correct the speed as long as the average speed will be below the set limit. Braking for speed traps is no longer necessary so the dangerous situations which were caused by this will be a thing of the past. Also the matter of privacy has been investigated among the motorists and here 70% said not to have a problem with systems like these concerning their privacy. 7

8 THE FUTURE. At this moment, CASE covers about 100 km of the most busiest artery of the Netherlands, the A-2 between Eindhoven and Amsterdam, nearly 100 km. Next step to be implemented is CASE in the full Western part of the Netherlands where due to a political decision a general speed limit of 100 km/hr will be implemented and enforced. In the meantime, a migration trajectory for the full motorway coverage with the tested trajectory control systems will have to provide for fully digital and automated enforcement. The 4th framework program VERA (Video Enforcement for Road Authorities) will generate European standardisation for digital imaging techniques for enforcement. Other applications for digital enforcement will be tailgating, use of hard shoulder, ramp metering, access control, bus lane violations, red light running etc. Digital Enforcement is here to stay. REFERENCES. (1) Martin Everse, Computer Sciences Corporation, Automated Speed Control, a presentation given on an enforcement workshop in the Netherlands, may 7,