Effectiveness of enforcement resources in the highway patrol in reducing fatality rates

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the United States. Wyoming initiated a safety study to investigate the underlying causes of high crash rates since it has one of the highest fatality rates in the nation. Research has shown relationships between increased enforcement activity and road crash/fatality reduction. However, little research has attempted to quantitatively measure the impact of various forms of police enforcement, such as the percentage of enforcement time and the quantity of resources, on fatality rate. Therefore, this study was set forward to fill this gap. Data from the highway patrol in Wyoming and the surrounding states were used in this study. Although Wyoming and these nearby states have very similar features in terms of geography and weather, they are different in terms of road mileage and traffic. Therefore, the data was normalized based on highway mileage and miles traveled. Enforcement efforts were compared in terms of allocated enforcement budget, number of sworn officers, and time spent patrolling. The results indicated that there are negative relationships between fatality rate and budget, number of officers, and active hours on the field. This paper also investigated which variable is the best predictor of fatality rate. The results indicated that time spent on the field by highway patrol officers is the best indicator of fatality rate. It was found that although some states like Wyoming have a higher number of sworn officers, they spend less time actively enforcing highway safety. This study provides information needed for authorities to allocate more funding to the highway patrol, and for the highway patrol to spend more time on the road.