Electronic eye sees traffic realities

By Mark Fischenich
The Free Press

MANKATO December 04, 2008 10:24 pm

— A Minnesota State Patrol pilot project in the Mankato area, which used an electronic traffic analyzer to identify areas where dangerous driving was prevalent, was successful in improving compliance with driving laws, according to Patrol officials.
The traffic analyzer can be disguised as a patch on a highway and measures vehicle speeds, traffic volume and how closely vehicles are following one another, according to Sgt. Jacalyn Sticha, a spokeswoman for the Mankato-based Patrol district.
The information is used to identify stretches of highway and times of the day when more enforcement is needed, Sticha said.
The pilot project, conducted from April to July, led to focused enforcement 12 miles west of Highway 169 on Highway 14 and between Mankato and St. Peter on Highway 22 . The Patrol also used observers to track seat-belt use in those areas before and after the more intensive enforcement.
In the Highway 14 enforcement zone, the number of vehicles traveling between six and 10 miles per hour over the 55-mph speed limit fell from 35 percent to 25 percent from the beginning of the enforcement effort to the end. Vehicles traveling between 51 and 60 mph increased by 10 percent.
In the Highway 22 test, vehicles traveling at the higher speeds fell from 30 percent to 11 percent, according to the Patrol.
Seat belt use by drivers also climbed by 13 percentage points (to 90 percent) on Highway 14 and by seven percentage points (to 85 percent) by the end of the third month of the pilot project.
The Patrol will now consider buying more of the traffic analyzers, which cost $1,200, and potentially use them statewide, Sticha said.