NCJ Number
105590
Date Published
1986
Length
448 pages
Annotation
This book presents significant research findings on traffic accidents, drivers, and enforcement techniques that can produce successful accident prevention when applied.
Abstract
The book opens with an assessment of the priority police agencies typically give to traffic accident prevention, a low priority relative to its importance for public safety. It then examines information gathering, reporting, and information use as the basis for traffic accident prevention, followed by a discussion of whether a specialized traffic unit should be organized for prevention efforts or whether such efforts are best integrated with the patrol function. Two chapters present completed research on driver characteristics and the relationship between arrests and accidents as the basis for the preventive targeting of high-risk drivers. Programs using increased patrol to prevent traffic accidents are assessed. The remaining five chapters examine the technical operations required for successful prevention programs. These operations include selective enforcement, countermeasures for drunk drivers, and other effective enforcement techniques. Chapter references, tables, and subject index.