A STUDY OF TRAFFIC PATTERN MODIFICATIONS IN AN URBAN-CRIME PREVENTIONPROGRAM

A review of the defensible space crime prevention literature suggests that residential street closings or traffic modifications, while not l ikely to reduce the crime rate, may account for a reduction in the per ception (fear) of crime. This article examines two adjacent neighborho ods in St. Louis, Missouri, one in which traffic modifications were ma de five years prior to this study. Part I crime data for both neighbor hoods are compared over time and the results of a random survey of res idents regarding their perceptions of crime is presented The findings reveal that crime in the neighborhood where traffic flow was modified had a lower rate of increase in the crime rate than the control neighb orhood. In addition, while respondents in the experimental neighborhoo d considered crime in their neighborhood more serious, their fear of c rime was lower than in the control neighborhood. Copyright (C) 1997 El sevier Science Ltd.