FC: Rep. Dick Armey on photo radar: It doesn't make driving safer

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Previous Politech message:

"Rep. Armey questions Interior Department photo radar system"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-01998.html

And:

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's website:
http://www.hwysafety.org/

---

From: "Diamond, Richard" <Richard.Diamond () mail house gov>
Subject: Forthcoming IIHS Photo Radar "Status Report"
Date: Wed, 1 May 2002 16:03:06 -0400

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is going to release a "Status 
Report" on photo enforcement. The news items they are highlighting tomorrow 
is a claim that people are driving more slowly past speed cameras in the 
District of Columbia.  Read what they say carefully, and note that they do 
not say this makes DC *safer*, just that it makes DC "slower". Attached is 
a fact sheet on photo radar that you might find useful -- it explains why 
slower is not necessarily safer.

Since March, the District has billed motorists well over $40 million 
dollars.  That's what this is all about.

Richard Diamond
Office of the Majority Leader
US House of Representatives
202-225-6007 / www.freedom.gov

Photo Radar Fact Sheet

There is much more to the photo radar story.  Here are some facts:

Consider the Source of the Studies

Ø       Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is funded by the 
seventy major insurance companies.
Ø       When photo radar tickets are issued in California and Arizona, 
points are assessed to driver's licenses.
Ø       Each time such a point is assessed to a license, the insurance 
company can raise the driver's rate and profit.
Ø       The head researcher at IIHS is not a disinterested scientist.  He 
was formerly the New York transportation official who first brought red 
light camera enforcement to the United States.

Many States Have Tried and Rejected Photo Radar

Ø       The legislature and courts in Alaska, Nebraska, New Jersey, Utah, 
Wisconsin and most recently Hawaii have acted to ban photo radar.

Ø       A Colorado judge recently suspended Denver's photo radar program 
because it violated state law (January 2002).

Canada and Europe

Ø       On June 27, 2001, British Columbia ended its five-year photo radar 
program: "Speed cameras have no effect on road safety. They are nothing 
more than a cash cow." -British Columbia's newly elected (Labour Party) 
Premier, Gordon Campbell. "The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia 
(ICBC) funded the camera vans. Despite numerous studies, it could not prove 
that the photo-radar program had any direct effect on road safety."

Ø       Police in Holland are installing security cameras to monitor their 
speed cameras after losing one-fifth of all the cameras in the province of 
Brabant to attacks from vandals and irate drivers. 4/17/02

Great Background Reading

Ø       Matt Labash, Inside the District's Red Lights, Weekly Standard, 
4/02. Found online at:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/078ftoqz.asp

Ø       The most extensive study of red light cameras and accidents showed 
the devices increased the number of accidents overall. David Andreassen, "A 
Long Term Study of Red Light Cameras and Accidents," Australian Road 
Research Board, February, 1995. Found online at:

http://www.freedom.gov/auto/rlcdocs/95aussie.pdf

Is slower safer? Read the facts:
MUTCD, Section § 2B.11 Speed Limit Sign (R2-1):

"When a speed limit is to be posted, it should be the 85th-percentile speed 
of free-flowing traffic, rounded up to the nearest 10 km/h (5 mph) increment."

International Association of Chiefs of Police, "Selective Traffic 
Enforcement Manual <http://www.freedom.gov/auto/rlcdocs/72percentile.pdf>," 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, January 1972:

"The sitting-in practices are particularly objectionable when two or more 
enforcement units group together to work an intersection which generates 
frequent driver violations. Usually, where this situation occurs, the 
officers are doing nothing more than reaping the harvest of inadequate or 
poor traffic engineering.  These locations frequently encourage 
noncompliance by the motorist to traffic signals or turning 
regulations.  Very often, however, the real culprit is faulty traffic 
engineering rather than the driver."

..."Prima facie posted speed limits are ordinarily set according to the 
'85th percentile' technique... The engineering philosophy behind this 
approach is that 85 percent of all drivers will travel at safe speeds 
considering the road environment..."

FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) (1985, reaffirmed 1996) Report No. 
FHWA/RD-85/096 Technical Summary, "Synthesis of Speed Zoning Practice":

"Based on the best available evidence, the speed limit should be set at the 
speed driven by 85 to 90 percent of the free-moving vehicles rounded up to 
the next 5 mph increment. This method results in speed limits that are not 
only acceptable to a majority of the motorist, but also fall within the 
speed range where accident risk is lowest. Allowing a 5 mph tolerance, 
enforcement would be targeted at drivers who are clearly at risk.

No other factors need to be considered since they are reflected in the 
drivers speed choice. If there are unusual hazards not readily apparent to 
drivers, then a warning sign could be installed giving the nature of the 
hazard and, if necessary, supplemented with a realistic advisory speed."

Chapter 8-13, California State Traffic Manual: (1970's)

"Speed limits established on the basis of the 85th percentile conform to 
the consensus of those who drive highways as to what speed is reasonable 
and prudent, and are not dependant on the judgment of one or a few."

"Further studies have shown that establishing a speed limit at less than 
the 85th percentile (Critical Speed) generally results in an increase in 
accident rates."

AASHTO, "Resolution of the annual meeting of the American Association of 
State Highway Officials", 1969:

"The review of existing practices revealed that most of the member 
departments use, primarily, the 85th percentile speed. Some agencies use 
the 90th percentile speed, and of secondary consideration are such factors 
as design speed, geometric characteristics, accident experience, test run 
speed, pace, traffic volumes, development along the roadway, frequency of 
intersections, etc."

"On the basis of the forgoing review, the Subcommittee on Speed Zoning 
recommends to the AASHTO Operating Committee on Traffic for consideration 
as an AASHTO Policy on Speed Zoning that:

The 85th percentile speed is to be given primary consideration in speed 
zones below 50 miles per hour, and the 90th percentile speed is to be given 
primary consideration in establishing speed zones of 50 miles per hour or 
above. To achieve the optimum in safety, it is desirable to secure a speed 
distribution with a skewness index approaching unity"

Institute Of Transportation Engineers; (1991) ITE Committee 4M-25, Speed 
Zone Guidelines:

"Thus, the overriding basis (from a safety perspective) for speed zoning 
should be that the creation of the zone, and the speed limit posted, 
results in an increase in the percentage of motorists driving at or near 
the 85th percentile speed."

"A third rationale is the need for consistency between the speed limit and 
other traffic control devices. Signal timing and sight distance 
requirements, for example, are based on the prevailing speed. If these 
values are based on a speed limit that does not reflect the prevailing 
speed of traffic, safety may be compromised."

"2. The speed limit within a speed zone shall be set at the nearest 5 mph 
increment to the 85th percentile of free flowing traffic or the upper limit 
of the pace of the 10 mph pace." "In no case should the speed limit be set 
below the 67th percentile speed of free flowing traffic."

Nebraska Department of Road, NDOR University of Nebraska Lincoln, 
Department of Civil Engineering College of Engineering and Technology: 
Research Report No. TRP-02-26-92Evaluation of Lower Speed Limits on Urban 
Highways:

"SAFETY EFFECTS
The results of the analysis of the accident experience in speed zones 
indicate that zones with posted speed limits equal to the reasonable speed 
limits proposed by the NDOT method of speed zoning are safer than zones 
posted with limits that are 5 and 10 mph below the reasonable speed limits. 
Speed zones with speed limits 5 mph below the reasonable speed limits were 
found to have 5 percent more accidents than zones with reasonable speed 
limits. Speed zones with speed limits 10 mph below the reasonable speed 
limits were found to have 10 percent more accidents than zones with 
reasonable speed limits. Therefore, the speed zones on state highways in 
urban areas should be posted with reasonable speed limits proposed by NDOR 
method in order to minimize the numbers of accidents in the speed zones. 
Speed limits lower than the reasonable speed limits should not be posted." 
(85th percentile was defined as the reasonable speed)

Citations courtesy of the National Motorists Association. 




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