The effect of traffic policing on road safety in Israel

We use panel data on road sections to investigate the effect of traffic pol icing on non-urban road accidents in Israel. Traffic policing is measured i ndirectly by the number of police reports issued for driving offences. Our main findings are: (1) only large-scale enforcement has any measurable effe ct on road accidents while small-scale enforcement has no apparent effect. (2) The enforcement effect is slightly larger in the long run than it is in the short-run. (3) The effect of enforcement tends to dissipate rapidly af ter the dosage of enforcement is reduced. (4) Enforcement has no effect on fatal road accidents. (5) The evidence that the effect of policing in one r oad section spills over onto other road sections is weak. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.