Doing Away with Police Surveillance

What role can police surveillance have in traffic safety? They remain indispensable for a minority of delinquent drivers, for DUI offenders…. These drivers will not be greatly influenced by road design – other factors are at play. There will also be drivers who want to experience the risk of driving and, for them, “the thrill of speed”. It would not be cost effective to design a street that would make it impossible for such behaviours. Yet, despite their lower numbers, these drivers have a major impact on the quality of life of residents. In such cases, police surveillance is the appropriate solution. But, if in fact, it is the geometric design that is leading to driver behaviour by the majority of drivers that is deemed not acceptable, dealing with the situation by having police enforce a speed limit, for example, will result in driver frustration and a decrease in support for police surveillance. Other categories of drivers that require police surveillance are “normal” drivers that increasingly are becoming distracted by the use of cell phones, either handheld or hands-free, or drivers that need to adjust to new highway conditions, geometric or weather-wise. And police are especially useful in patrolling accident-prone locations, in order to gather data to improve the situation. Road designers can help police concentrate on their specific mission by producing optimal geometric designs for urban streets that will operate at appropriate speeds to allow urban life to flourish.