Summary Report: Field Test of Combined Speed, Alcohol, and Safety Belt Enforcement Strategies

Jones, R; Joksch, H; Wiliszowski, C; Marchetti, L; Lacey, J. J. · 1995 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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Summary

This 1995 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) evaluates a field test designed to determine if combined enforcement strategies for speeding, alcohol-impaired driving (DWI), and safety belt non-use, coupled with public information and education (PI&E) campaigns, can reduce these violations. The study was motivated by the hypothesis that simultaneous enforcement increases the perceived risk of arrest and severity of penalties, thereby enhancing general deterrence. The project was conducted in three test sites—Knoxville, Tennessee; Wichita, Kansas; and Lexington, Kentucky—over approximately one year, using Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Topeka, Kansas, as comparison sites. The experimental design involved sequentially emphasizing five different combined enforcement strategies, each supported by a two-month PI&E campaign. Evaluation methods included monitoring enforcement activity (arrests and citations), measuring PI&E exposure, conducting driver surveys on awareness and self-reported behavior, performing field measurements of speed and seatbelt use, and analyzing traffic accident data. The study aimed to isolate the effects of the combined program by comparing test sites to comparison sites that did not implement special enforcement programs, although one comparison site, Chattanooga, later implemented a single-strategy speeding campaign. The results provided partial support for the efficacy of combined enforcement but highlighted significant operational challenges. Effectiveness was contingent on maintaining both high-intensity enforcement and strong PI&E for specific behaviors. Wichita showed a reduction of at least 20% in proxies for alcohol-related crashes, while Lexington achieved a 10% reduction in alcohol-crash proxies, a 12% reduction in vehicles exceeding the speed limit by 5 mph or more, and a 17% reduction in minor injury accidents. However, results for seatbelt usage were inconclusive; while Lexington maintained high usage rates, Wichita showed no effect, potentially due to secondary enforcement laws. Knoxville failed to sustain increased enforcement across all three areas and yielded less positive results. The study also noted that Chattanooga’s single-strategy speeding campaign reduced injury accidents by 8%, suggesting single-violation programs can be highly effective for specific targets. The authors conclude that while combined enforcement can have a positive general deterrence impact, it places a significant strain on police resources, making it difficult to sustain intensity for all three target behaviors simultaneously. The report suggests that combined programs are most effective when they incorporate increased enforcement intensity alongside robust PI&E. It also implies that a more focused PI&E approach, perhaps emphasizing individual behaviors sequentially, might be more practical than attempting to convey a complex combined message. The findings encourage further research to verify whether combined enforcement offers a greater overall highway safety impact than single-violation programs of comparable magnitude.

Key finding

Combined enforcement of speeding, DWI, and seatbelt laws reduced alcohol-related crashes and speeding incidents when supported by increased enforcement intensity and public information campaigns, but sustained multi-target enforcement strained police resources.

Methodology

field_study

Provenance

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Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• seat belt use
• dui enforcement
• automated enforcement cameras
• regulatory evaluation

Information type

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• Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation, policy recommendations
• Empirical Findings: observational prevalence