Impact of traffic campaigns on the average speed of vehicles on urban roads

Many traffic deaths and injuries are related to speeding. Thus, establishing speed limits and enforcing them are fundamental measures for promoting safe traffic. It is known that automatic speed enforcement, in particular, the average speed enforcement, effectively counters excessive speeds. In Brazil, only on site inspection of speed is regulated. Thus, testing the effectiveness of other countermeasures in reducing the average vehicle speed is indispensable. This study aimed to analyze the effects of a traffic education campaign (exposure of drivers to damaged vehicles on public roads) on the average speed behavior of drivers on urban roads who usually travel above the allowed speed. The average speeds of the (paired) vehicles before and after the introduction of the educational campaign in three segments were compared. The obatined results showed that the traffic campaign was effective in reducing the average vehicle speed by drivers who usually traveled above the allowed speed in the analyzed segments. The magnitude of the campaign effect (average speed reduction) was observed to be greater during its execution and lost strength when interrupted, especially on the sixth and seventh days after completion, corroborating that the traffic campaign measures (although low cost and easy to execute) had limited effects on the time and place of their realization. The results of this study can be used in the future as an indicator that people actually do worry about the consequences of speeding, as is the case with the vision of damaged cars.