PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

Salina, the seventh largest city in Kansas, ranked fifth in the state for the five-year period, 1987-1991, in motor vehicle crash severity. In 1992, Salina recorded 492 injury-producing crashes and 121 alcohol-related crashes. That year, Salina began participating in the statewide Sobriety Checkpoint program, sponsored by the Kansas Department of Transportation's (KDOT) Bureau of Traffic Safety. Sobriety checkpoint results showed a DUI arrest rate of 1.6 impaired drivers per 100 stopped vehicles. In 1993, a similar project funded by KDOT resulted in the arrest of 2.4 impaired drivers per 100 vehicles stopped. As a result of Sobriety Checkpoints and an internal records review, the Salina Police Department noted two recurrent problems exacerbating the severity of vehicle crashes: speed and alcohol use by drivers.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The Salina Police Department established the Strict Traffic Regulation Enforcement for Safe Streets (STRESS) program in 1993. The goal was to reduce the number and severity of motor vehicle crashes, and to provide for and facilitate the safe and orderly flow of traffic on Salina's roadway network. The focus was to reduce impaired driving, speed, and other moving violations influencing crash severity. Specific objectives are as follows:

• To increase the DUI apprehension rate from a baseline of 247 to 500 per year
• To conduct 24 DUI check lanes each year, resulting in a minimum apprehension rate of two drunk drivers per 100 vehicles checked
• To raise public awareness of the project's activities through monthly news media releases
• To increase the total number of hazardous moving violation citations above the baseline (1990-1992) average of 4003 citations per year to 6,500 by the third year.

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

The Salina Police Department focused on the two identified priority problem areas, DUI and speed, by:

• Forming a six-officer traffic regulation enforcement team. This team was supplied with radar- and video-camera- equipped patrol vehicles and motorcycles. This equipment significantly aids law enforcement in traffic safety monitoring.
• Utilizing a Breath Alcohol Testing (BAT) Van to assist at checkpoint operations
• Employing a media component to complement the program's activities.

DUI arrests, hazardous moving violation citations, and sobriety checkpoints served as the major performance indicators of the program's impact.

RESULTS

By the end of 1995, motor vehicle crashes resulting in injuries had decreased by more than 17 percent, from 492 in 1992 to 405 in 1995. During 1995, more than 16,500 citations were issued for speeding and other hazardous moving violations. The most dramatic result was the 56 percent reduction in the number of alcohol-related crashes, which fell to 53 from a high of 121 in 1992. Both DUI arrests and citations for speeding and other hazardous moving violations substantially increased, with DUI arrests increasing to 697 from 271 in 1992, and other citations to 16,562 from 7,268.

In addition to enforcement, the program utilized education and engineering. Public service announcements (PSAs) on the radio, coverage by local newspapers, and billboards showing the dangers of driving after using alcohol increased public awareness of the issue. Due to studies of traffic engineering on city streets, speed limits were changed.