On Speed Management, Public Health, and Risky Behaviors: Examining the Side Effects of Automated Speed-Enforcement Cameras on Traffic Crashes in Bogotá, Colombia

Abstract

Automatic speed-enforcement cameras are considered a highly reliable technology that produces returns on investment through reduced social and economic costs associated with traffic crashes. Drawing from open data and behavioral theory, we test whether fixed speed cameras in urban areas, while reducing traffic crashes, induce compensatory behaviors such as speeding downstream—referred to as the kangaroo effect. We use a quasi-experimental research design that compares intervention and control segments before and after installing 90 fixed speed cameras in selected arterial road segments of Bogotá, followed by a confirmatory spatial statistical analysis. Our statistical tests strongly suggest that fixed speed cameras induce compensatory behaviors, noticeably reducing the overall effect of these investments. Despite this finding, fixed speed cameras in Bogotá have satisfactory results for reducing fatal and non-fatal injuries overall, and more so for pedestrians and motorcyclists.