EVALUATION OF “TARGETED PEDESTRIAN ENFORCEMENT” Philip M. Salzberg and John M. Moffat Washington Traffic Safety Commission Olympia WA Presentation to the 2003 Traffic Records Forum

One of the most critical factors in pedestrian safety is driver compliance with pedestrian safety and crosswalk laws. Driver compliance can be influenced by police enforcement. However, in most jurisdictions the amount of crosswalk enforcement is very low. One method of increasing driver compliance with crosswalk laws is the technique of targeted pedestrian enforcement (TPE).

The technique of targeted pedestrian enforcement. TPE uses a pedestrian decoy, a cadre of police officers (typically on motorcycles) and an observer who is in radio contact with all. The pedestrian will attempt to cross when a vehicle passes a marked point on the road which is a measured distance from the crosswalk. The observer radios a description of vehicles that fail to stop for the pedestrian to the enforcement officers who then cite or warn the errant driver. TPE is typically conducted in conjunction with public information media messages that inform of the enforcement effort.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of TPE in increasing the rate of driver compliance with the crosswalk law. The setting for the study: Bellingham And Olympia Washington. The study sites: 3 enforcement sites and 3 comparison sites in Bellingham; 3 comparison sites in Olympia. Each site had a speed limit of 25 MPH, a marked crosswalk, and no traffic control signs or signals. All sites had a marked point 160 feet from the crosswalk. This distance gave adequate time for a vehicle to stop when traveling at 35 MPH.

DESIGN OF THE STUDY: BEFORE-DURING-AFTER WITH MULTIPLE COMPARISONS The study was conducted over a three week period: –Week 1 – baseline. –Week 2 – enforcement plus media in Bellingham. –Week 3 – post-enforcement. The comparison sites in Bellingham provided an assessment of the effect of the media announcements in the absence of specific enforcement activities. The Olympia sites provided an assessment of driver compliance in a city where no special enforcement or media activities had been conducted.

PROCEDURES Observations were initiated when a vehicle passed the marked point 160 feet from the crosswalk. The pedestrian would then step onto the street one pace from the curb and look at the approaching vehicle. Eye contact with the driver was minimized. If the vehicle slowed or stopped, the pedestrian would proceed across the street. The pedestrian was instructed to be cautious of other vehicles in adjacent lanes and not to proceed unless the other vehicles also were slowing. The observer recorded on a data sheet whether or not the vehicle stopped or slowed. The pedestrian decoys in both cities were of similar appearance; male, about six feet tall, weighing about pounds, dressed in casual clothing and neutral colors.

RESULTS Driver compliance at the Bellingham TPE sites averaged 49.3% during the baseline week, increased to 63.1% when enforcement was conducted, and remained high at 74.4% in the follow-up week. 236 traffic citations issued for crosswalk violations. Compliance rates at the Bellingham comparison sites were somewhat lower, but showed the same pattern of improvement increasing from 40.4% to 59.6% to 65.5%. Driver compliance at the Olympia comparison sites was substantially lower than the Bellingham rates, and remained low during all 3 weeks of the study.

Both the TPE and comparison sites in Bellingham showed increases in driver compliance of 25 percentage points from baseline to follow-up. This suggests that the city’s drivers had received the media messages, and that there may have been a general city-wide effect of the TPE program. Compliance with the crosswalk law continued into the follow-up week, suggesting at least a short-term carry-over effect. In conclusion, the findings of this study demonstrate that the technique of targeted pedestrian enforcement can be an effective tool for improving the rate of driver compliance with the pedestrian crosswalk law.