Addressing Collisions Involving Unlicensed Drivers
and Drivers with Suspended or Revoked Licenses: Appendix 1
Profiles of State and Local Agency Implementation Efforts: Strategy 2.1 A1
Emphasis Area
2.1—Keeping Unlicensed/Suspended/Revoked Drivers Off the Road
Objective
2.1 A—Special Enforcement Practices
Strategy Name and Number
Increased Enforcement in Selected Areas (Strategy 2.1 A1)
Agency and Jurisdiction
Santa Barbara Police Department (SBPD)
Problem(s) Identified
Identifying and apprehending improperly licensed drivers Unlicensed/Suspended/Revoked (U/S/R), who are greatly overrepresented in fatal crashes.
Goals and Objectives Established
Increased identification and apprehension of Unlicensed/ Suspended/Revoked (U/S/R) drivers through special enforcement practices.
Description of Strategy Implemented
Violation/crash data are routinely reviewed, including driver's license status, to identify times and locations of U/S/R driver violations/crashes. Enforcement is deployed specifically at times and in locations identified as having a disproportionate number of violations/crashes involving U/S/R drivers.
Summary of Implementation Effort (Lessons Learned)
This strategy may be implemented at the level of an enforcement agency, with no requirement for outside authorization. In most jurisdictions it does not require additional personnel, but rather is based on a different deployment of existing personnel.
Officers are rotated on an overtime basis based on which officers want to work this detail. The only requirement in the SBPD is that the officer must be trained on police motorcycles. Each day an officer is dedicated to conduct routine license checks at the times and locations identified. Previously enforcement was sporadic, with no overall plan. This approach guarantees that information gleaned from review of citations and crashes is used to improve enforcement effectiveness.
Summary of the Results 1
When this selective enforcement was initially implemented, there was a 35 percent increase in the number of U/S/R drivers detected. However, after this enforcement had been in effect for a while, the numbers decreased citywide by about 20 percent, an outcome that is to be anticipated if the strategy(ies) are effective in actual reductions in U/S/R driving.
This selective enforcement has been implemented in combination with two other strategies: Strategies 2.1 A2 (routine linkage of citations to driver records to determine license status) and 2.1 B1 (immobilize, impound, seize vehicle). Consequently it is not possible to gauge how much this strategy is contributing to decreases in the numbers of U/S/R drivers observed. There has been no independent evaluation of this strategy in isolation. However, it is a measure that is easily implemented and that increases detection of U/S/R driving.
Contact Person and Information
Officer David Whitham
Santa Barbara Police Department
215 Figueroa Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Tel: 805-897-2342
E mail: dwhitham@sbpd.com
Officer Whitham has hands-on knowledge about this strategy and can provide detailed information on how to implement and operate it.
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