PILOT TESTS OF AUTOMATED SPEED ENFORCEMENT DEVICES AND PROCEDURES

This report concerns the identification of technologies applicable to speed enforcement and an assessment of their potential utility in the United States. The study emphasizes technologies in common use in Europe and elsewhere, but relatively unknown in the United States. The most common non-United States technology utilizes Doppler radar aimed diagonally across the road, rather than down the road as is the case with American systems, giving it a number of technical advantages. This, and several other technologies identified, can be used with a camera to obtain photographic evidence or operate automatically without an officer in attendance. The findings reported on these automated speed enforcement (ASE) devices reflect information from literature; personal visits to foreign law enforcement agencies and manufacturers; engineering and preliminary law enforcement field tests of selected ASE devices in the United States; a quantitative rating system; and a cost-effectiveness evaluation of selected ASE devices and their deployment strategies. It is concluded that ASE devices are technically much superior to systems presently used in the United States and, although more expensive, offer potential cost-effectiveness advantages. However, there are some legal and public opinion concerns that must be dealt with, and selected ASE devices must be modified and then tested in an operational setting in which the systems are actually employed, first, to issue warnings and, eventually, citations for speeding.