"Speed or Greed? Automated Traffic Enforcement - Safety? or Revenue?"

CALGARY, Dec. 8, 2015 /CNW/ - Frontier Centre for Public Policy has released Hiroko Shimizu and Pierre Desrochers' study of the effects of automated traffic enforcement (ATE) in "Speed or Greed: Does Automated Traffic Enforcement Improve Safety or Generate Revenue?"

Shimizu and Desrochers state that the decline of road fatalities by 58% is largely due to better engineered vehicles, seat belts and other safety measures. Although there is little credible evidence, some ATE supporters assert that lower speed limits, increased fines and rigorous enforcement will improve public safety. Shimizu and Desrochers claim evidence shows that strategies including better signage, longer yellow light times and speed limits that reflect actual driving practices are more effective at reducing traffic violations and collisions.

The authors question the ethics of budgeting fines and penalties as regular revenue sources and the attempt to justify them as public safety measures using rhetoric like "speed kills". Indeed, highly punitive fines are often imposed for very minor offenses leading many to suspect the motivation behind these penalties might be budget shortfalls. An unintended consequence might also be a growing distrust of governmental authorities and politicians. Shimizu and Desrochers conclude that government's ultimate goal regarding road transportation should be safety, not revenue generation. Further, if there is additional revenue generated, those funds should be dedicated towards promoting road safety and not simply another form of taxation.

Hiroko Shimizu is a policy analyst with a special interest in energy, food, environmental, and globalization issues. Shimizu is an Associate Researcher of the Molinari Economic Institute in Brussels and was appointed as an International Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies. She holds a Master's of International Public Policy from Osaka University and with Pierre Desrochers has co-authored "The Locavore's Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000-Mile Diet". Pierre Desrochers is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Toronto with a particular interest in economic development, technological innovation, environmental, energy and food policy.

Shimizu and Derochers' "Speed or Greed: Does Automated Traffic Enforcement Improve Safety or Generate Revenue?" can be found here: Speed or Greed? Automatic Traffic Enforcement - Safety? or Revenue?

About the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is an innovative research and education charity registered in both Canada and the United States. Founded in 1999 by philanthropic foundations seeking to help voters and policy makers improve their understanding of the economy and public policy, our mission is to develop ideas that change the world.

SOURCE Frontier Centre for Public Policy

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