Technical Report Documentation Page

Evaluation of the Aggression Suppression Program, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Preusser Research Group, Inc.
7100 Main Street
Trumbull, CT 06611

U.S. Department of Transportation
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
400 Seventh Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20590

Joe Ann O’Hara served as NHTSA Contracting Officer's Technical Representative for the study, and Terry L. Witkowski served as the Project Manager. 

In October 1998, the Milwaukee Police Department was awarded the first federally-funded Aggressive Driving Demonstration Grant by the U.S. Department of Transportation. This 18-month demonstration project was designed to study aggressive driving and provide information and enforcement results to law enforcement agencies across the U.S. The total grant of $650,241 included a local match of $173,716. Milwaukee competed with law enforcement agencies from 26 other metropolitan areas for this grant. The goals of the project were to develop and evaluate an innovative enforcement strategy to reduce aggressive driving and to develop and evaluate public information and education programs to discourage aggressive driving. The first six months were devoted to gathering baseline data and developing the publicity plan and enforcement schedule. Milwaukee launched the six-month enforcement and awareness phase on March 30, 1999. This phase was organized into a series of three-week enforcement and publicity "sub-theme" campaigns, each focusing on a specific traffic offense commonly associated with aggressive driving and each with a distinctive slogan. The final six months provided time for the project to be evaluated and this report to be prepared. The process evaluation indicated the program was exemplary in terms of planning, coordination, and implementation. Considerable special enforcement was undertaken, and a number of innovative strategies, including innovative technologies, were useful in identifying and apprehending aggressive drivers. Based on an outcome evaluation, the program demonstrated the effects of targeted enforcement. More citations were issued for violations associated with aggressive driving (not just speed citations); red light-running behaviors changed at targeted intersections; and crash reduction was demonstrated citywide, with greater reductions on corridors with targeted enforcement. Programs of this type could likely be improved with paid media as well as earned media so that more visible, focused media attention could be gained.

• aggressive driving
• traffic enforcement
• community traffic safety programs
• STEPs

 Unclasified

 Unclassified