Cheryl W.
Lynn, Nicholas J. Garber, Wayne S. Ferguson, Torsten K. Lienau, Robyne
Lau, Janice V. Alcee, Jonathan C. Black, and Peter M. Wendzel
Virginia Transportation Research Council
Charlottesville, VA
Report No. VTRC 93-R6
November 1992
Because of increasing difficulties in enforcing posted speed limits on the Capital Beltway around Washington, D.C., local officials proposed that experiments be conducted with photo-radar to determine if that method of automated speed enforcement (widely used in Europe for about 30 years and very recently employed in the western United States) could help reduce average speed and speed variance.
A project
task force led by the Virginia Department of State Police, with assistance
from the Maryland Department of State Police and the Virginia and Maryland
Departments of Transportation, and with technical assistance from the
Virginia Transportation Research Council, conducted site visits to cities
in Europe and the United States where photo-radar is being used. The task
force also invited six manufacturers of photo-radar equipment to staff
and demonstrate their equipment. Five of the manufacturers conducted a
two-week series of tests on sections of interstate highways with varying
volumes of traffic and different traffic characteristics. The tests, which
were conducted from June through September 1990, were designed to provide
the evaluators with data on the accuracy, reliability, and efficiency
of each unit (in terms of the number of speeding cases that could potentially
be generated by the use of photo-radar on the Beltway) and help the study
team determine if photo-radar could be successfully deployed on the Capital
Beltway as an enforcement tool. In addition, the project included an analysis
of legal and constitutional issues associated with photo-radar use as
well as an evaluation of public sentiment concerning photo-radar use on
the Capital Beltway. The evaluators concluded that photo-radar use was
feasible on high-speed, high-volume roads such as the Capital Beltway
and, therefore, recommended efforts to pass state enabling statutes and
test further the efficacy of photo-radar in actual traffic enforcement
conditions. Although the results of the study indicate that it is feasible
to use photo-radar on high-speed multilane roadways, further study is
required to determine its effect on travel speed and safety.
There are
also important operational issues that must be considered when using this
device. Some items of consideration are identification and selection of
operational sites and times to deal with identified traffic safety and
enforcement problems; provision of equipment-specific training programs
for police officers to ensure the equipment is properly operated; provision
for the availability of properly trained technical support personnel to
ensure the continuing accuracy of the equipment; setting of speed thresholds
that are realistically determined and target the excessive speeder; number
of lanes on the roadway; visual obstructions on the roadway; and customizing
of photo-radar applications to fit the highway safety problem area.
key words: speed enforcement, photo-radar
Last Modified: March 20, 2007
Maintained by: traffic@nmsu.edu
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