Exploring the influence of traffic enforcement on speeding behavior on low-speed limit roads

Abstract

Speeding on low-speed limit roads is a common traffic offense in China, which could be due to the mild traffic safety enforcement. The article aims to explicit the impact of traffic enforcement measures on the speeding behavior on low-speed limit roads. First, field data were collected to demonstrate the severity of speeding by investigating speed distribution; second, a virtual traffic enforcement was designed by considering three factors related to traffic enforcement, and a stated preference survey questionnaire including six scenarios was designed and implemented; finally, a series of generalized regret random minimization models were established to study the relationship of speeding behavior and traffic enforcement as well as drivers’ personal characteristics. From the stated preference survey analysis, the research figures out that other vehicles’ average speed is the most important reference to choose speed rather than traffic penalties, and the model estimation results show that speeding violation grows severe if traffic enforcements are lenient. Therefore, increasing the violation costs is a powerful means of lowering the probability of speeding for individual, thus proceeding the drop of vehicles’ average speed, and the fall of average speed will contribute to decrease speeding subsequently.