Skip to main content

IRF Washington advocates for PPPs in traffic enforcement to boost safety

New IRF Policy Paper outlines effective automated traffic enforcement PPP models. In most countries traffic enforcement cameras and other equipment are purchased, owned, and operated by government organisations. The past two decades have seen a wide-ranging wave of privatisations and introduction of public private partnerships (PPP) in formerly government-owned or controlled activities, including traffic enforcement. Implementing this concept requires a set of principles and good practices presented in
November 10, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
New IRF Policy Paper outlines effective automated traffic enforcement PPP models

In most countries traffic enforcement cameras and other equipment are purchased, owned, and operated by government organisations. The past two decades have seen a wide-ranging wave of privatisations and introduction of public private partnerships (PPP) in formerly government-owned or controlled activities, including traffic enforcement. Implementing this concept requires a set of principles and good practices presented in this IRF policy statement.

In a policy statement released by the IRF and available at 3918 IRF Washington website, good practice guidelines are shared for effective automated traffic enforcement PPP models around the world. These models require at a minimum a private party willing to supply the cameras at no upfront charge to the public party, which could be a municipality, county, state, or nation, and provide a service to issue tickets and collect fines. In these schemes, the private party agrees to recover its investment over time by receiving a negotiated percentage of the fines revenue with a “capped” or maximum monthly or annual payment to the private party established between the public and private party. This cap should not prevent the private party from issuing tickets after this cap is reached, which means a reasonable per ticket fee only to cover the private party’s additional costs should continue after reaching this cap.

Moreover, an independent third party must be hired to approve, routinely inspect, verify and calibrate each camera and the processes to confirm the intended performances.

Lastly, public acceptance of PPP schemes can be strengthened through campaigns pledging that, once the cost thresholds for all the private parties (camera supplier & operator, third party auditors, etc.) are met, revenues generated from the collection of fines are reinvested in road safety related projects.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Public-private participation for highway law enforcement
    April 18, 2017
    In some countries, public-private partnerships for road traffic law enforcement are helping to greatly reduce traffic fatalities. But careful implementation is essential, according to a new white paper. Big brother is watching you. Speed cameras are just a cash cow for local authorities. Police use them to keep their speeding ticket statistics high. The list of suspicions goes on. But there is nothing suspicious about road deaths, says Philip Wijers, chairman of the sub-committee on enforcement at the US-ba
  • Automated speed camera enforcement: IRF sets the measure for use
    August 3, 2020
    Familiarly known as “speed cameras” to motorists around the world, automated speed enforcement (ASE) devices produce a record of the speed of a vehicle when the driver has exceeded the acceptable maximum limit. However, as recently publicised cases have shown, for an ASE system to be effective and widely accepted, it is of paramount importance that all readings from these devices are accurate, and that this accuracy can be proven by those operating the devices.
  • High Standards for Safety Professionals set by IRF Washington
    December 23, 2015
    IRF Sets International Benchmark for Road Safety Auditors The International Road Federation released a set of minimum qualification guidelines for professionals conducting road safety audits and inspections as part of a global road safety gathering in Brasilia.Speaking at the 2nd Global High Level Conference on Road Safety, IRF Executive Vice President Mike Dreznes noted that design standards alone cannot guarantee road safety in all conditions. “The IRF strongly supports the extended and expanded use of ro
  • Road pricing revenue a source of investment funds
    February 16, 2012
    When channelled back into the road sector, revenue from road charging is seen by many as a source of additional investment and research funds as Patrick Smith reports. Late in 2010, three major European organisations put out a policy statement calling for fair charging for greener, smarter and safer road infrastructure. ASECAP (the European toll road operators organisation); ERF (European Road Federation) and the IRU (International Road Transport Union), said that in recent years the concept of road chargin