Understanding Your Local Problem
The information provided above is only a generalized description ofspeeding in residential areas. You must combine the basic facts witha more specific understanding of your local problem. Analyzing the localproblem carefully will help you design a more effective response strategy.
Asking the Right Questions
The following are some critical questions you should ask in analyzingyour particular problem of speeding in residential areas, even if theanswers are not always readily available. Your answers to these and otherquestions will help you choose the most appropriate responses later on.
Crashes and Complaints
- How many crashes occur in residential areas? How many are crasheswith other vehicles? Pedestrians? Bicyclists?
- How serious are the injuries?
- What percentage of crashes in residential areas are speed related?
- How, specifically, do the speed-related crashes occur? Single vehiclegoing off the road? Multiple vehicles crashing into one another? Head-on,rear-end, side-impact crashes?
- Are there multiple factors involved, such as speeding to make itthrough yellow traffic signals?
- How many complaints do police receive about speeding in residentialareas? What, specifically, do citizens complain about? Actual crashes?Fear of walking or riding? Noise?
Speeders
- Who are the most frequent offenders? Area residents? Commuters?Visitors? Why do they say they speed?
- Who are the worst offenders? How fast do they drive?
Locations/Times
- On which specific streets or blocks is speeding a problem? On whatdays and at what times? (Computermapping software can help you answera number of questions about where and when the problem occurs.)
- Is the speed limit prominently posted?
- Is the speed limit proper for road conditions? Too high? Too low?What is the 85th percentile speed?
- What road conditions make speeding more likely? Can these conditionsbe modified?
- Do crashes occur at intersections, on straight roads or at curves?
Current Responses
- How much do officers conduct speed enforcement in the problem areasnow? What factors determine where they conduct it? Are speed and crashstudies conducted before targeting particular locations for enforcement?
- What is the formal or informal tolerance range before officers issuecitations? What do most drivers think it is?
- Do officers give warnings in lieu of citations? Do they officiallyrecord those warnings? What criteria do they use in deciding to givewarnings?
- Does the law allow officers to use speed cameras?
- What are the typical fines and penalties for speeding in the problemareas? Do they seem to be meaningful consequences for offenders?
- Have officers used speed display boards in problem areas?
- Do officers work closely with road and traffic engineers to establishspeed limits and identify and correct speed-related problems?
Measuring Your Effectiveness
Measurement allows you to determine to what degree your efforts havesucceeded, and suggests how you might modify your responses if they arenot producing the intended results. You should take measures of yourproblem before you implement responses, to determine how serious theproblem is, and after you implement them, to determine whether they havebeen effective. All measures should be taken in both the target areaand the surrounding area. (For more detailed guidance on measuring effectiveness,see the companion guide to this series, Assessing Responses to Problems:An Introductory Guide for Police Problem-Solvers.)
Speeding, unlike so many other problems the police must address, allowsfor precise measurement—of speeds, crashes, causes, complaints,etc. Measures of the effectiveness of responses to speeding problems,therefore, can and should be reliable and accurate. The following arepotentially useful measures of the effectiveness of responses to speedingin residential areas:
- the average speeds of vehicles (taken in mid-blocks),
- the percentage of vehicles speeding,
- the percentage of vehicles exceeding the speed limit by variousamounts,
- the number of vehicle crashes,
- the number of injuries caused by vehicle crashes,
- the severity of injuries caused by vehicle crashes, and
- the volume of citizen complaints about speeding.
The number of citations issued is not an appropriate measure of theimpact of your responses; it merely provides information about policeenforcement levels. Pay attention to the possible displacement effectsof your efforts: drivers may divert to adjoining areas or roads, withpositive or negative results.