Pennsylvania State Transportation Advisory Committee Evaluated the Safety Effects of the Automated Speed Enforcement Pilot in Philadelphia, PA.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Evaluation of the Automated Speed Enforcement Pilot on Roosevelt Boulevard
Summary Information
The use of cameras to automate speed enforcement is spreading because of its potential effectiveness in improving roadway safety. In response to a high rate of severe and fatal crashes, the State of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia approved the use of Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras along a 14-mile arterial, Roosevelt Boulevard (US1), in June 2019. It is a principal arterial featuring separate local and express lanes, totaling 12 lanes, with a posted speed limit of either 40 or 45 MPH. PennDOT identified and installed cameras at eight sites in January 2020. The study examined the effectiveness of the ASE system based on speed and crash data from one year prior to implementation (2019) and one year post implementation (2021).
METHODOLOGY
Before-and-after analysis (2019 vs 2021) was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the ASE implementation. To isolate the results of this intervention versus other factors, crash data was examined for both the locations installed with ASE cameras and the entire city of Philadelphia. There were 8 locations with ASE cameras, each with Northbound and Southbound lanes and each of those with Express and Local lanes. The ASE cameras used speed measurement devices to detect speeding and captured photographic evidence of vehicles in violation based on a determined threshold, which in this case was drivers traveling 11+ MPH above the posted speed limit. Drivers were provided with a 60-day warning period before fines for violations began.
Other measures of effectiveness, including the number of suspected serious injuries and crashes related to aggressive driving, were also evaluated.
FINDINGS
The findings of the before-and-after crash data analysis are presented in Table 1.
Table 1: Crash Data for Roosevelt Boulevard and all of Philadelphia before ASE Implementation and After.
| Crash Statistic |
2019 (Before ASE) |
2021 (After ASE) |
Percent Change |
| Roosevelt Boulevard | |||
| Total Crashes |
374 |
239 |
-36 |
| Total Crashes with Fatalities or Suspected Serious Injuries |
27 |
24 |
-11 |
| Total Speeding Related Crashes |
47 |
39 |
-17 |
| Total crashes w/at least 1 aggressive driver |
200 |
132 |
-34 |
| City of Philadelphia |
|
|
|
| Total Crashes |
11,131 |
10,463 |
-6 |
| Total Crashes with Fatalities or Suspected Serious Injuries |
479 |
555 |
+16 |
| Total Speeding Related Crashes |
1730 |
1931 |
+12 |
| Total crashes w/at least 1 aggressive driver |
5147 |
5151 |
0 |
In addition to the crash reduction, other key findings include:
- Total monthly violations along the corridor were reduced from 224,206 to 8,939 (96 percent) from June 2020 to February 2022 (the last month of data collection).
- Excessive speeding and average speed declined with the average declining by 10 percent at most locations.
- The decrease in crashes has led to a $15M reduction in crash cost, as estimated by the 2020 PennDOT Crash Facts and Statistics booklet.
