An evaluation of the traffic safety effect of fixed speed cameras

Abstract

Speeding remains a major challenge in traffic safety. The government often invests a lot of means to manage this problem, for example through the installation of speed cameras. In order to achieve an effective traffic safety policy it is important to examine the traffic safety effects that these investments bring about. This study evaluates the traffic safety effects of 65 fixed speed cameras, installed between 2002 and 2007, on highways in Flanders-Belgium. The adopted approach is a before- and after study with control for the trend. The evolution in the number of crashes at the locations with speed cameras was compared with the evolution in the total number of crashes in Flanders. The analyses showed a non-significant decrease of 8% in the number of injury crashes. In the case of the more severe crashes with serious and fatal injuries, a decrease of 29% was found, significant at the 5% level. A favorable effect is found for all road user categories (car occupants, cyclists, moped riders, motorcyclists and pedestrians), with a higher decrease in the number of injured road users at the treated locations compared to the general trend. It can be concluded that speed cameras have a favorable effect on traffic safety, mainly on severe crashes.