Evaluation of the Washington State Target Zero Teams Project [Traffic Tech]

NHTSA · 2015 · ROSA P / United States. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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Summary

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of Washington State’s Target Zero Teams (TZT) project, a high-visibility saturation patrol initiative designed to reduce traffic fatalities. The program was motivated by the success of a pilot Night Emphasis Enforcement Team (NEET) in Snohomish County, which had previously reduced traffic fatalities by 40.3 percent. To support the state’s “Target Zero” strategic plan aiming for zero fatalities by 2030, the Washington State Patrol expanded this model by deploying TZT detachments in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties from July 2010 to June 2012. The study compared these intervention counties against three comparison counties (Clark, Spokane, and Yakima) that lacked formal TZT activities. The evaluation assessed four primary objectives: the increase in DUI enforcement, reductions in alcohol-involved driving and crashes, public awareness, and the program’s cost-benefit ratio. The methodology involved analyzing citation and law enforcement activities, special prosecution data, media coverage, public awareness surveys, driver blood alcohol concentration (BAC) records, crash statistics, and economic impact estimates. Researchers utilized time series analyses to compare crash trends in intervention counties relative to comparison counties and statewide averages. They also calculated lives saved by comparing projected alcohol-involved fatal crashes based on pre-TZT data against actual outcomes during the operational period, using comparison counties as covariates. The results indicated that TZT significantly increased DUI enforcement productivity, with troopers achieving substantially higher arrest rates from contacts than non-TZT counterparts. In terms of safety outcomes, TZT was associated with a 7.1 percent decrease in total crashes in King County, a 7.0 percent decrease in Pierce County, and a 3.8 percent decrease across all three intervention counties combined, relative to comparison sites. Nighttime crashes also declined significantly in these areas. While Snohomish County showed limited additional crash reductions, likely due to prior NEET impacts, the intervention counties demonstrated relative reductions in alcohol involvement in fatal crashes. Specifically, there was a 24.8 percent relative reduction in drivers with BAC ≥ .01 and a 22.4 percent relative reduction in drivers with high BACs (> .15) in fatal crashes, as comparison counties saw increases in these metrics. Public awareness of the program remained low, with recognition of “Target Zero Teams” reaching only 5.1 percent. The study concluded that TZT yielded substantial economic benefits, estimating that the program saved 11 lives. Based on the National Safety Council’s cost estimate for a fatality, this avoidance generated $49,049,000 in savings against direct expenditures of $6,038,363, resulting an 8:1 benefit-to-cost ratio. The authors suggest that while TZT markedly improved enforcement productivity and safety in at least two of the three counties, future research should determine if these benefits continue, plateau, or recede as the program persists.

Key finding

After Target Zero Teams enforcement began, total crashes fell 7.1 percent in King County, 7.0 percent in Pierce County, and 3.8 percent across the three intervention counties combined relative to comparison counties.

Methodology

field_study

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• automated enforcement cameras
• regulatory evaluation
• driver education effectiveness

Information type

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• Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation
• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes