Intelligent Enforcement ? the key to road safety

This paper examines the strategic effect of traffic law enforcement methods
on road safety outcomes. A roadmap is outlined, which emphasises the
importance of structured interaction between intelligent enforcement,
progressive infringement and traffic data processing and road safety
education.
Public education is pivotal in changing road-user behaviour and improving
public perception of road safety enforcement and its benefits.
Strategic enforcement must be evidence-based and outcome-focused to
reduce the prevalence of speeding and the potential for crashes. An
?anywhere anytime? philosophy coupled with diverse enforcement
technologies and methods will increase the detection rate of high-risk traffic
offenders and reduce the average speed.
Intelligence from crash statistics, trend analysis from traffic infringements,
speed survey analyses and information from police enforcement activity is
collated using intelligent processing systems. Feedback from this collation
ensures sustainability of enforcement counter-measures by improving the
coordination of an integrated system of automated camera technologies and
visible, active ?on-road? police enforcement, all with an overt/covert balance.
The combination of efficient and transparent infringement processing provides
feedback to drivers and helps build public confidence in the system.
Reducing road trauma by modifying road-user behaviour requires a holistic
approach where education, enforcement and infringement processing are part
of one system, and where each of the three elements is interdependent.
Analyses, strategic planning, decisive action and evaluation in a cyclic review
provide a sustainable base to achieve a cultural shift in driver behaviour.