Evaluating the speed camera sites selection criteria in the UK
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Li, Haojie
Zhu, Manman
Graham, Daniel J
Ren, Gang
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Introduction: Speed cameras have been implemented to improve road safety over recent decades in the UK. Although the safety impacts of the speed camera have been estimated thoroughly, the criteria for selecting camera sites have rarely been studied. This paper evaluates the current speed camera sites selection criteria in the UK based on safety performance. Method: A total of 332 speed cameras and 2,513 control sites with road traffic accident data are observed from 2002 to 2010. Propensity score matching method and empirical Bayes method are employed and compared to estimate the safety effects of speed cameras under different scenarios. Results: First, the main characteristics of speed cameras meeting and not meeting the selection criteria are identified. The results indicate that the proximity to school zones and residential neighborhoods, as well as population density, are the main considerations when selecting speed camera sites. Then the official criteria used for selecting camera sites are evaluated, including site length (a stretch of road that has a fixed speed camera or has had one in the past), previous accident history, and risk value (a numerical scale of the risk level). The results suggest that a site length of 500 m should be used to achieve the optimum safety effects of speed cameras. Furthermore, speed cameras are most effective in reducing crashes when the requirement of minimum number of historical killed and seriously injured collisions (KSIs) is met. In terms of the risk value, it is found that the speed cameras can obtain optimal effectiveness with a risk value greater than or equal to 30, rather than the recommended risk value of 22.
Date Issued
2021-02-01
Date Acceptance
2020-11-30
Citation
Journal of Safety Research, 2021, 76, pp.90-100
ISSN
0022-4375
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
90
End Page
100
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Safety Research
Volume
76
Copyright Statement
© 2020 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022437520301407?via%3Dihub
Subjects
Empirical Bayes
Propensity Score Matching
Selection Criteria
Speed Cameras
Logistics & Transportation
1117 Public Health and Health Services
1503 Business and Management
1701 Psychology
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-12-17