Publication Details


Site report: Knoxville, Tennessee field test of combined speed, alcohol, and safety belt enforcement strategies

Type: Paper

Subtype: Final report

Author(s): Jones, Ralph K.; Joksch, Hans C.; Lacey, John H.; Wiliszowski, Connie H.; Marchetti, Lauren M.

Pages: 87

Publisher: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Url: https://doi.org/10.21949/1525397

Publication Date: 1995

Number: DOT HS 808 243

Address: Washington, DC

Abstract: This report describes the implementation and evaluation of a traffic safety program in Knoxville, Tennessee. The goal of the program was to reduce the incidence of speeding, alcohol-impaired driving (DWI) and non-use of safety belts through well-publicized enforcement strategies focusing attention on all three areas. The Knoxville Police Department selected "Triple Jeopardy: Speeding, Drunk Driving and Belt Use - In Knoxville, if you're stopped for one, you're checked for all three" as the theme for their program. The program sequentially emphasized five different combined enforcement strategies over a period of approximately one year. A public information and education program that focused on each strategy ran for about two months. The study concluded that Knoxville's combined enforcement program did not decrease speeding or DWI, nor did it result in increased use of safety belts. Though an impressive public information and education program was implemented, it was not matched by actual increases in enforcement intensity for any of the target offenses. This provides additional support to prior research which has suggested that public information and education programs with enforcement themes should be backed up by a credible enforcement threat.