The attitudes of the police to traffic surveillance : Comparing the results 1999 with 2007

This report is based on the results obtained from two questionnaire studies carried out during 1999 and 2007. The aim of the studies is to increase our knowledge about the attitudes and approach of the police to traffic safety work and how these attitudes have changed with time. In the first study 729 randomly chosen police officers completed the questionnaire and in the second 1,022. The results show that the basic attitude among the police towards traffic surveillance has become more positive. The attitudes towards the directives from the governing bodies and their ability to participate in decision making have improved slightly from the first measurement to the second measurement. However, it is characteristic that a fairly large proportion still is dissatisfied with the same. The attitude of the police towards their own reporting of accidents has not changed appreciably at all. On the other hand, the understanding that a certain amount of statistics shall be reported is slightly greater in 2007 than in 1999. The attitudes towards automatic surveillance have strongly improved although a well-visible policeman is still advocated. The need to reinforce the surveillance of professional traffic is considered to be greater in 2007 than in 1999. According to the police, the attitude amongst the public towards speeding offences has become more negative than it was before. Nevertheless, a relatively high proportion still believes that it is a relatively minor offence. In 2006, the tolerance level for speeding offences was lowered at the same time as the fines for traffic offences were raised markedly. The results of the questionnaire show that the police are neutral towards whether or not these measures will influence the public's acceptance of the traffic safety work, which could indicate that they have not yet defined their attitude regarding the question. More than half of all police officers in 2007 do not believe that the public are aware of the possibility of having a time for consideration with respect to the acceptance of a fine for a breach of regulations. Finally the results show that in 2007, more controls were carried out than before. The most important conclusions that can be drawn from these results are that the police have developed a more positive attitude towards the traffic safety work and that, at the same time, more traffic controls are being carried out. But there are also many who still do not feel that they are able to influence their work. Furthermore, many are dissatisfied with the governing body's directives regarding traffic safety work. Such a dissatisfaction can influence the psycho-social work environment and the motivation for carrying out good work, but concretely the results show that such a dissatisfaction influences, both directly and indirectly, how many traffic controls one carries out.