Skip to main content

Evaluation of speed cameras finds reduction in injury crashes

A before and after study by the Norwegian Institute of Transport Economics, Transportøkonomisk institutt (TOI) of 223 speed cameras that were installed between 2000 and 2010 in Norway found a statistically significant reduction of injury crashes by 22 per cent on road sections between 100 metres upstream and one kilometre downstream of the speed cameras. For killed and severely injured (KSI) and on longer road sections none of the results are statistically significant. However, speed cameras that were i
January 30, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
A before and after study by the Norwegian Institute of Transport Economics, Transportøkonomisk institutt (TOI) of 223 speed cameras that were installed between 2000 and 2010 in Norway found a statistically significant reduction of injury crashes by 22 per cent on road sections between 100 metres upstream and one kilometre downstream of the speed cameras.

For killed and severely injured (KSI) and on longer road sections none of the results are statistically significant. However, speed cameras that were installed in 2004 or later were found to reduce injury crashes and the number of KSI on road sections from 100 m upstream to both one kilometre and three kilometres downstream of the speed cameras. Larger effects were found for KSI than for injury crashes and the effects decrease with increasing distance from the speed cameras.

At the camera sites (100 metres up- and downstream) crash reductions are smaller and non-significant, but highly uncertain and may be underestimated. The study has controlled for trend, volumes, and changes of speed limits and other road characteristics.

Regression to the mean is controlled for by using the Empirical Bayes method.

Related Content

  • Emissions ‘rising too high despite the reduction targets’
    December 4, 2015
    An analysis by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland of the emission targets from 159 countries indicates that, although nearly all the world’s countries have announced targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, more ambitious emission reductions are needed in order to limit global warming to two degrees. In addition, developing countries have recently joined the effort to slow down climate change by setting targets for reducing emissions. However, despite those targets, VTT says emissi
  • Mexico improves road safety with speed enforcement programme
    June 7, 2012
    A programme of road safety education and enforcement in the State of Jalisco in Mexico has reduced speed related fatalities by 40% in nine months Speed enforcement equipment will appear in greater number and visibility around the city of Guadalajara over coming months, as the Mexican State of Jalisco expands its road safety campaign. This comes hot on the heels of an initial programme of traffic speed education and enforcement in Guadalajara, which has yielded remarkable results, reducing speed related fata
  • Negative report for road safety cameras
    October 23, 2015
    An audit of the state’s speed cameras has found that the Queensland Police Service (QPS) and the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) in Australia have strayed from best practice in using the devices to reduce speeding, with a resultant effect on road safety, according to PSNews online. In his report Road Safety: Traffic Cameras, Acting Auditor-General, Anthony Close found that in the past seven years the QPS had issued 3,760,962 speeding tickets from camera-based evidence, with TMR collecting AU
  • Toll performance exceeds expectations, improves travel times
    January 30, 2012
    Jean Harito, Attica Tollway Operations Authority and Steve Morello, Egis Projects describe how looking to exceed contractual obligations makes good operational and business sense. The Attica Tollway is a modern, 65km, access-controlled urban motorway with three lanes in each direction. It constitutes the ring road around the extensive metropolitan area of the Greek capital, Athens, and forms the backbone of the entire road network in the Attica region. By ensuring freeflow operating conditions, the Attica T