Police Checkpoints Research Articles

Rule-orientation and adherence to traffic laws among French drivers: An exploratory study

In 2022, 30 million traffic offences were recorded by the enforcement authorities on French roads, resulting in more than 16 million penalty points being deducted from driving licences. Why do French drivers not always comply with the rules of the road? Previous studies have shown that Attitudes, Subjective Norms and Perceived Behavioural Control are strong predictors of the intention to obey traffic laws (Theory of Planned Behaviour, TPB, Ajzen, 1991). In this paper, we investigate drivers’ relationship with traffic rules in more depth. We identified several other factors as potential extensions of the TPB in explaining compliance with traffic rules. To test the impact of these dimensions on compliance and to understand the motivations behind French drivers’ lack of compliance, we conducted an online questionnaire survey among a representative sample of 1021 French drivers (mean age: 44.3, 49.9 % women). In addition to the TPB measures, we used a combination of existing scales (Conformity and Sensation Seeking) and exploratory items specifically designed to measure additional components. We named these four distinct components Conditionality, Discourtesy, Authority Rejection, and Egonomy, respectively. Aside from the TPB components, Conditionality and Conformity predicted intentions to always obey traffic rules; testing the same model on reported drink-driving, we found an effect of Discourtesy and Sensation Seeking, but not of the TPB components measured at a general level (“towards traffic rules”); whereas Authority Rejection, Egonomy and Attitudes towards traffic rules were linked to attitudes towards police checkpoints. These findings open up new perspectives for the study of rule orientation in the field of road safety, raise questions about the relevance of conducting general prevention campaigns targeting specific behaviours, and reveal the difficulty perceived by the participants in ’always’ respecting the rules of the road.

Butterfly Inflationary Effects of Multiply Police Check-Points in Nigeria

Butterfly Inflationary Effects of Multiply Police Check-Points in Nigeria

Nigeria Policemen Digital Memes as Reformative Indices

The corrupt activities of some officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) at checkpoints have in recent times drawn the senses of hypermemetic logic. A number of research studies have investigated Nigerian police discourse. However, digital memes deployed to reflect corruption-related activities at police checkpoints have attracted inconsequential research. This paper, therefore, examines selected Nigeria Police digital memes – multi-moulded socially constructed Nigeria police discourse, instantiated digitally to satirise corruptible policing and privilege reformative advocacy in Nigeria. Seven selected police digital memes were collected from Opera News Nigeria, an app that allows African authors and bloggers to create online content and share such with a fast-growing subscriber base. In interpreting the selected digital police memes, this paper engages the theoretical underpinnings of Gunther Kress’ (2010) social-semiotic theory of multimodality. Through its theoretical apparatus, functional loads such as contemptible open extortion, symbolic blind allusions, duty deviance, wrong motif towards checkpoints, detrimental frustration, checkpoints’ main duty negligence and lawlessness were established. Thus, this paper concludes that the satirical philosophy embedded within most Nigeria Police digital memes points towards reformation and reorientation of members of the Nigeria Police Force.

Security Check Points and Police Extortion: A Study of Road Transport Corridors in Imo State, Nigeria

Police checkpoints have come to be associated with extortion in Imo State, and motorists frequently become victims of a well-established pattern of unethical behavior. This work, ‘Security Check Points and Police Extortion: A Study of Transport Corridors in Imo State, Nigeria’, sought to investigate and understand the nature and pattern of such extortion, its significant effects on drivers, and society at large. The objective of the study is to comprehend the dynamics of this widespread problem and shed light on its deep-seated roots and wide-ranging effects. Data was primarily gathered, methodically coded, and analysed using an interpretivist philosophy and qualitative methods to help the study delve deeply into the various tactics used by the police to extort money from motorists, such as arbitrary searches, illegal fines, and intimidation tactics. Adopting Strain Anomie Theory, the study analysed the methods used at these checkpoints. The effects of this extortion scheme go beyond just the financial losses for drivers. But there is a deterioration of public confidence among the police organisation and personnel. Considering a multifaceted approach to dealing with this issue The study recommends that the police force urgently needs fundamental reforms, covering greater training, stricter supervision procedures, and increased accountability standards. Imo State can aim to eliminate this harmful behaviour and restore faith in the police institution through a concerted effort involving other law enforcement agencies, civic society, and the general public, ultimately building a safer and more just society for all.

Reducing the spread of COVID‐19 in road traffic control in Cameroon based on ICT

AbstractThe coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic in 2019, a once‐in‐a‐lifetime event that tested the limits of humanity. The number 2019 is a memorable year that the entire humanity will hardly forget as the world had fitted against this virus. The pandemic has so far changed the habits of people all over the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined a list of barrier measures that have been implemented and are still effective in several countries. Among these measures, social distancing remains the most important. It requires people to avoid physical contact and not to exchange possessions. However, during road checks in Cameroon, police officers usually check passengers by asking them to show their national identity card. After receiving the ID card, a police officer checks the information on the card and returns it to the holder at the end of the check. This process goes beyond the new regulation and contributes to the spread of the Covid'19 virus. This paper considers this issue as an engineering problem and proposes a new approach based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to carry out the road traffic control activities. An automatic control system is proposed. It has two main functionalities namely the positioning subsystem and the Data collection subsystem. The positioning subsystem allows the road traffic controller in defining the right position where he/she should stand to collect information from passengers while the data collection subsystem collects data from the ID card presented by each passenger in the car. This approach was tested at police checkpoints on the Douala‐Yaoundé road in Cameroon and the results showed a reduction in COVID‐19 cases related to document handling between police and passengers/drivers.

CRIME HOTSPOT EMERGENCE IN MEXICO CITY: A COMPLEXITY SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

We present a dynamic model based on the theories proposed by environmental criminologists to explain the emergence of crime hotspots within cities; a pervasive phenomenon that is largely independent of cities size and cultural differences. The model is defined on a multiplex network that represents a city spatial tiling with its corresponding urban transport infrastructure, allowing to explore the relation between crime hotspot locations and the network topological features. It also allows to explore the effects that cities time evolution and police checkpoints might have on the emergence of crime hotspots. For Mexico City, the model shows that heterogeneous distributions of criminal activity arise from a diffusion-driven instability, as a self-organizing process. The results obtained for this city are in line with several insights from environmental criminology, such as the relationship between urban layout and crime hotspots locations, or the conceptual label assigned to specific locations as crime generators. They also uncover new relationships between cities design and crime hotspot locations, and suggest that routine activity theory alone cannot explain the emergence of heterogeneous crime distributions.

Convolutional Neural Network for Overcrowded Public Transportation Pickup Truck Detection

Thailand has been on the World Health Organization (WHO)’s notorious deadliest road list for several years, currently ranking eighth on the list. Among all types of road fatalities, pickup trucks converted into vehicles for public transportation are found to be the most problematic due to their high occupancy and minimal passenger safety measures, such as safety belts. Passenger overloading is illegal, but it is often overlooked. The country often uses police checkpoints to enforce traffic laws. However, there are few or no highway patrols to apprehend offending drivers. Therefore, in this study, we propose the use of existing closed-circuit television (CCTV) traffic cameras with deep learning techniques to classify overloaded public transport pickup trucks (PTPT) to help reduce accidents. As the said type of vehicle and its passenger occupancy characteristics are unique, a new model is deemed necessary. The contributions of this study are as follows: First, we used various state-of-the-art object detection YOLOv5 (You Only Look Once) models to obtain the optimum overcrowded model pretrained on our manually labeled dataset. Second, we made our custom dataset available. Upon investigation, we compared all the latest YOLOv5 models and discovered that the YOLOv5L yielded the optimal performance with a mean average precision (mAP) of 95.1% and an inference time of 33 frames per second (FPS) on a graphic processing unit (GPU). We aim to deploy the selected model on traffic control computers to alert the police of such passenger-overloading violations. The use of a chosen algorithm is feasible and is expected to help reduce traffic-related fatalities.

The influence of truck speed on pavement defects

ABSTRACT The response of asphalt material depends on the rate of loading and varies from elastic to plastic. Therefore, the behaviour of flexible pavement would also be different along the entire length of a road because of truck speed changes due to the existence of police checkpoints, bus stations, speed bumps, intersections, horizontal and vertical curves, and climbing lanes. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of truck speed on the performance of flexible pavement. Thus, analyses were conducted for various truck speeds (1–75 km/hr) on three different pavement structures and three traffic levels using AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design 2.5.5 for the local conditions of Izmir, Turkey. The analysis results of the study manifested that a reduction in traffic speed (75–1 km/hr) on a road resulted in higher pavement distress. According to the results, reducing truck speed from 25 to 1 km/hr resulted in a rapid increase in AC rutting, alligator cracking and top-down cracking by 13.3 mm, 10.6% and 1473.8 m/km, respectively. It is expected that the outcomes of this study would promote the local calibration of the mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide (MEPDG) and pavement design in Turkey and the region.

Catch Me if You Can

Catch Me if You Can

Short Communication: HIV Viral Load Trends During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in a Reference Center for HIV in Rome, Italy.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reduced the access of HIV patients to reference centers. However, retention-in-care is critical to maintain adherence to therapy and viral suppression. During lockdown in Italy, our center implemented several measures to ensure HIV-care continuum. To assess whether these efforts were successful, we investigated HIV viral load trend for a 1-year period (September 2019-August 2020), which included lockdown and partial lockdown months in our country. No significant changes overtime in the proportion of undetectable HIV-RNA were observed. Continuity of service made it possible to maintain viral suppression in our patients.

The problematics of openness: Cosmopolitanism and race in Teju Cole’s Open City

ABSTRACT Teju Cole’s novel Open City holds up to scrutiny the consequences of the traumatic events of the September 11 terrorist attacks, specifically the Twin Towers in New York City. In a post-9/11 scenario, the limitations of the goals, claims, and outcomes of globalization and cosmopolitanism become manifest, especially when they intersect with the categories of race and religious faith. Ultimately, Open City invites an exploration of the metaphor of openness. The title’s military reference may declare openness, but physical cordons, barriers, police checkpoints, and detention centers constitute an array of security measures designed to barricade the Western metropolis against a perceived Other. The city is not unproblematically open.

Pessimist Engagements

Pessimist Engagements Saidat Ilo (bio) Afropessimis Frank B. Wilderson Liveright Publishing Corporation wwnorton.com/books/9781631496141 368 Pages; Print, $18.95 Frank Wilderson's Afropessimism examines the philosophy of Blackness. Afropessimism is a metatheory that dismisses other theories' attempt to tie Black suffering to the suffering of other oppressed peoples of the world. Wilderson contends that Blacks are not humans, are not political subjects, and as such, will never be afforded full human nor political rights. He argues that anti-Blackness is embedded in the fabric of America and voting is a way Blacks choose between oppressors. He came to these conclusions through a series of traumatic events that he experiences from childhood to adulthood. When he reached this realization and became an afropessimist, he literally had a nervous breakdown. These small traumas or microaggressions he experiences began as a child going up in a predominately White neighborhood in Minneapolis. As a child, he experienced racism from his classmates not wanting to hold his hand because they were afraid his skin color would rub off on them, to being called racist names, to his friend's mom asking him what is was like to be Black as if being Black meant not being human. He could not understand why Whites had such disdain or curiosity about him because of his skin color; he believed these experiences were only limited to Whites. In adulthood, he discovers anti-Black violence and sentiment was shared by non-Whites as well. This discovery came from someone he considered to be a dear friend; a Palestinian colleague who shared stories of police checkpoints by Israeli officers and the humiliation of stop and frisk Palestinians endured. His friend, who he believed, he shared a kinship with as oppressed people, said the stop and frisk were the worst when it was an Ethiopian Jewish officer. Wilderson wondered, How is it that the people who stole his land and slaughtered his relatives were somehow less of a threat in his imagination than Black Jews?... What I wondered silently, was it about Black people (about me) that made us so fungible we could be tossed like a salad in the minds of oppressors and the oppressed? He now understood that junior partners (a term he uses to refer to non-Whites, women, and those in the LGBTQI+ community) were also capable of anti-Black violence. Even though he experienced these instances of anti-Black violence, he still was not an Afropessimist. This latest occurrence ended his belief that he, as a Black person, belonged to a community of subjugated people. He contends that there is a hierarchy among the subjugated and Blacks are at the bottom, and no matter how bad junior partners may have it, they can always say with relief that at least we are not Black. The notion that rich Whites, poor Native Americans (he witnessed a Native American call his father the n-word), and junior partners all share the same psyche of anti-Black violence laid the foundation of afropessimism. Black suffering is deep and wide, and although there may be remedies that could lead to liberation and political redemption, those remedies would have to come from the very people who created and perpetuate the suffering. Wilderson became an afropessimist upon the realization that full human and political rights of Blacks can never happen. Black suffering, anti-Black violence, and the social death Blacks experience are necessary for human existence to continue. Likened to the book, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (1973) where a child must suffer for others to enjoy utopia, in Afropessimism, Blacks must suffer for the world as we know it to continue. African-Americans, as Jared Sexon notes, live with, "the hidden structure of violence that underwrites so many violent acts, whether spectacular or mundane." Although we have progressed as a society, abolished slavery, passed the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and the 1960s, and elected and reelected Barack Obama, the same systematic and institutional racist structures remain. Racism in the twenty-first century is more covert, which can make it difficult to identify. This anti-Black violence, whether conscious or unconscious, is used because Whites and...

Drink driving and speeding in Sao Paulo, Brazil: empirical cross-sectional study (2015–2018)

ObjectivesTo evaluate the prevalence of drink driving and speeding during 2015–2018 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.DesignCross-sectional observational study.SettingRoads representing the five main regions of the city of Sao Paulo in Brazil,...

Driving under the influence of alcohol and the effects of alcohol prohibition—Case study in Serbia

Objective: The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the prevalence of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) according to day of the week, specific roads (urban/rural), daytime or nighttime, and vehicle category. In addition, this study examines how the prohibition of selling alcoholic drinks in shops and supermarkets (not in restaurants) after 10 p.m. has affected the prevalence of DUI.Method: Breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) was collected from all drivers through police checkpoints at 54 locations in Serbia. In this study, 17,945 drivers were tested in urban areas and 19,507 in rural areas. The relationship between DUI during the prohibition on alcohol sales in Belgrade and other large cities in Serbia was determined using logistic regression.Results: On average, every 100th driver in traffic in Serbia was DUI (0.99%). This study shows that the 0 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for motorcyclists does not have an influence on DUI. Moreover, motorcyclists represent the category with the highest share of DUI, with a statistically significantly larger difference compared to drivers of other vehicle categories. These results may be a consequence of the fact that a large number of drivers drive both motorcycles and other vehicle categories (cars or mopeds), so the different BAC limits for nonprofessional drivers may create confusion about the legal BAC limit.Conclusions: This study suggests that the required legal BAC limit for nonprofessional drivers should be the same. The prohibition of selling alcoholic drinks in Belgrade after 10 p.m. does not decrease the prevalence of DUI.

Determination of Layers Responsible for Rutting Failure in a Pavement Structure

Rutting is one of the most common distresses in asphalt pavements in Zambia. The problem is particularly prevalent at intersections, bus stops, railway crossings, police checkpoints, climbing lanes and other heavily loaded sections, where there is deceleration, slow moving or static loading. The most widely used methods to identify the source of rutting among flexible pavement layers are destructive methods; field trenching and coring methods. The Transverse Profile Analysis method (TPAM), which is a non-destructive method, was suggested by White et al. in 2002 as an alternative method, to avoid the expensive and destructive nature of the traditional methods. In this method, data from the transverse profile of the rutted section is used to deduce the layer of the pavement structure responsible for rutting failure. This study used the TPAM to determine the layers of pavement responsible for rutting on sections of the Chibuluma and Kitwe-Chingola Roads in Zambia. The method was first validated using the trenching method on the Kitwe-Ndola Road. Results from the TPAM showed good comparability with those from the trenching method. It was established that most of the rutting emanated from the surfacing layer. This is consistent with recent research indicating that most rutting occurs in the upper part of the asphalt surfacing. It was also established that the TPAM was a simpler, faster and less costly method of determining the source of rutting failure compared to the traditional methods.

The Sociological Impart of Corruption and Sharp Practices on the Public Image of the Nigerian Police Force in Ado Ekiti, Nigeria

Corruption has become endemic in the Nigerian society today. Nearly all the facets of the nation are embroiled in one corruption case(s) or the other, even both the churches of God and men of God are not left out of the corruption scandal rocking the nation. In government offices, you have to rob the palm of the officials before you can get things done. Contracts are not awarded to the contractors who excel at the Tender interview except those that are ready to pay” kickbacks”. Outside the country, anywhere a Nigerian is, there must be corruption. In other words, Nigeria represents corruption. One institution that has been grossly affected by the ocean of corruption sweeping across the nation is the Nigerian Police. Corruption in the Nigeria Police came to a climax when the former Inspectors General of Police were alleged and convicted of embezzling billions of naira from Police fund. The police checkpoints have been turned to cash points where members of the force on patrol make quick money. Corruption has continued to bedevil the rank and file of the Nigerian Police. The major objective of this study was to know how corruption has affected the image of the Nigerian Police. The study also looked at the perception of the Nigerians toward the Nigerian Police. Consequently, Ado Ekiti which is the state capital was used as the study area for the research. Because it is the capital city, it has a population of about one million and five hundred thousand inhabitants. Quantitative research method was adopted. In the light of this, questionnaires were used to source for information on the research objectives. The result of the research revealed that criminals often seek solace in Police to get freedom through bribery. At times Police often collude with the criminals to perpetrate crime. It was revealed that the Police have turned checkpoints to Automated Teller Machine (ATM) centres where they harvest the perception of the people towards the Police is that, the Police is lazy, corrupt, inefficient and trigger-happy. The result of the research revealed high level of corruption within the rank and file of the Nigerian Police. Also, there were recommendations on how to stem down the increasing rate of corruption in the Police. Also, there were recommendations on how to encourage then performances of the Nigerian Police.

Estimating the drink driving attributable fraction of road traffic deaths in Mexico.

To estimate the Drink Driving Attributable Fraction (DDAF) of road traffic injury mortality in car occupants in Mexico during 2010-13. A case-control study was conducted to examine the presence of alcohol in analysed body fluids of car occupants killed in fatal crashes (cases) compared with car drivers tested in alcohol-testing checkpoints who were not involved in a fatal collision (controls). Two data sets were used for the period 2010-13: the forensic module of the Epidemiological Surveillance System on Addictions that included car occupants killed in a collision (cases) and a data set from alcohol-testing at police checkpoints available for matching municipalities (controls). Mexico. The analysed study sample included 1718 car occupants killed in a traffic collision and 80 656 drivers tested at alcohol police checkpoints, all from 10 municipalities. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios (OR) of presence of alcohol in body fluids were obtained stratified by sex and age groups and the interaction with these two variables were assessed. The ORs were used to calculate the DDAF. It was estimated that 19.5% of car occupants' deaths due to road traffic injuries were attributable to alcohol consumption [95% confidence interval (CI)=19.1-19.9]. The adjusted OR of presence of alcohol was 6.84 (95% CI=6.06-7.71) overall. For males it was 7.21 (95% CI=6.35-8.18) and for females it was 4.45 (95% CI=3.01-6.60). The ORs were similar across younger age bands (10-19years: 9.61, 95% CI=6.72-13.73; 20-29years: 7.70, 95% CI=6.28-9.4; and 30-49years: 7.21, 95% CI=5.98-8.70); and lower but still elevated among older people (50+ years: 3.19, 95% CI=2.19-4.65). An estimated 19.5% of car occupant deaths in Mexico may have been caused by alcohol in 2010-13.

Gays, Cross-Dressers, and Emos

Gays, Cross-Dressers, and Emos

Young drivers’ night-time mobility preferences and attitude toward alcohol consumption: A Hybrid Choice Model

This paper proposes an analysis of mobility preferences of young people at nighttime. In OECD countries in the last decades, data show that road crashes are the single biggest cause of death of 15–24 years-old drivers. On average, over 8500 young drivers were killed each year and it is demonstrated that the accidents tend to occur on weekend nights and when young people drive under the influence of alcohol.Focusing on the demand for mobility, we approach the problem from several points of view, concentrating on the relationship between attitudes towards alcohol and some of the most common countermeasures implemented to address young-driver risk. In particular, we examine the potential demand of young drivers for new modes of public transport, understand their preferences for plans designed to reduce and/or prevent the number of risky situations. Our analysis covers different aspects of private modes of transport, including amounts of fines and police checkpoints. We also investigate the characteristics of existing and available public transport systems (e.g. fares and levels of services).Through a Stated Preferences experiment (SP), we collected young people’s preferences about nighttime mobility within our application area (Lugano, Switzerland).Using the Hybrid Choice Models technique, we developed an approach and we estimated a model designed to incorporate simultaneously three dimensions of the problem: attributes of the alternatives, characteristics of young drivers, and alcohol-related psychological variables.Our estimates suggest that, first, there are young drivers who are willing to choose public alternatives; secondly, the countermeasures considered can increase their number; and, thirdly, people with a higher attitude to alcohol are more willing to switch to new public transport alternatives and more sensitive to “Drinking and Driving Do not Mix” policies. Action plans developed on the basis of these findings and on the relevance of the psychological component will have a better chance to succeed.

Alcohol Consumption Among Drivers in Curitiba, Brazil

Introduction: The combination of drinking and driving is globally understood as a risk factor for road traffic crashes and disastrous outcomes such as injury and disability or death. However, the magnitude of the problem may not always be known in many countries, particularly where there are legislative loopholes. In Brazil, until December 2012, verification by breathalyzer of drinking and driving was dependent on drivers’ acceptance of the tests after being stopped by the police.Objective: To describe the epidemiological profile of drinking and driving behaviors of a sample of drivers from Curitiba, Brazil, and explore the sociodemographic characteristics of those interviewed at police sobriety checkpoints.Methods: Drivers were selected and interviewed at police checkpoints on public roads in Curitiba. The local police, after informed consent, applied breathalyzer tests to check the drivers’ blood alcohol content and the results were compared with data previously collected through interviews containing self-reports of drinking and driving. Data were collected between March and November 2012.Results: Of the 511 drivers asked to participate in the study, 398 (77.9%) agreed to give a roadside interview. Most respondents were single men between the ages of 18 and 29 years, with 8.3% of interviewed drivers self-reporting alcohol consumption in the last 6 h before driving. On the other hand, only 46.2% of the whole sample accepted the breathalyzer testing. Among those breathalyzed by the police, 2.7% tested positive for alcohol.Discussion: This study, conducted on public roads in Curitiba, shows a noticeable proportion of drivers voluntarily self-reporting drinking and driving. However, a smaller percentage was confirmed to have positive blood alcohol content, likely due to the high breathalyzer refusal rate.