PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
From
1993 to 1996, the police department traffic unit in Santa Clara, California,
reduced its enforcement squad by 33 percent, from 12 motorcycle officers
to 8. Correspondingly, citations for hazardous traffic violations decreased
32 percent from 1993 to 1996 (from 5,103 to 3,480). During the same
period, motor vehicle crashes resulting in injury increased by 20 percent,
with 21.5 percent of these crashes determined to be speeding-related.
The Santa
Clara Police Department's traffic unit is responsible for enforcing
all traffic laws, and for responding to, and documenting all traffic
crashes. Data indicates that traffic unit officers spend an average
of 32.78 minutes at the scene of non-injury crashes, and 60.54 minutes
at injury crashes. The majority of this time is spent collecting data
for a handwritten collision report. Because of the time required to
respond to vehicle crashes, traffic unit officers were unable to sufficiently
impact the driving behavior of Santa Clara motorists, through enforcement
activities. In fact, during 1996, officers issued an average of only
2.5 citations per day for hazardous moving violations.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
In an effort
to reduce fatal and injury traffic crashes in Santa Clara, especially
those resulting from excessive speed, the Santa Clara Police Department
developed the Collision Report Data Collection and Processing program
in 1999. Objectives of the program were to:
- Decrease
total fatal and injury crashes by 10 percent (from 528 in 1996, to
495 in 1999); and speeding-related fatal and injury crashes by 10
percent (from 127 in 1996, to 114 in 1999)
- Create
a collision reporting software program for use on laptap computers,
that allows officers to directly input data necessary to complete
a collision report
- Reduce the
time required to complete a non-injury traffic collision report from
32.78
minutes in 1996, to 26.22 minutes in 1999; and the time required to
complete an injury traffic collision report from 60.54 minutes in
1996, to 48.43 minutes in 1999
- Identify
ten city intersections with the highest crash rates, and target enforcement
in these areas, to increase motorists' compliance with traffic laws
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
Santa
Clara Police Department officials used grant funding to purchase laptop
computers for all traffic unit motorcycle officers. Each computer was
equipped with a magnetic strip card for prompt entry of crash data.
The computers were pen-based to allow officers to enter data directly
into the software program, using their handwriting. Once completed,
the reports were printed onto a standard traffic collision report form.
Voice dictation
was also incorporated into the software program, allowing officers to
speak directly into the computer, and translating their speech into
text. This reduced the need for typing or lengthy handwritten reports.
All motorcycle
officers were trained in the use of the computer equipment and software
program. They were then deployed to each of the ten high-collision intersections,
to provide increased traffic enforcement.
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