Background

There are numerous strategies and infrastructure improvements that can reduce crash fatalities and serious injuries. But to have a real impact on crash rates, it also takes strong communication between law enforcement, who see firsthand the consequences of severe crashes, and engineers, who know the science behind efforts to reduce the worst crashes.

In Maryland, as in many States, there is often turnover in leadership of Statewide traffic police units, making it difficult to establish lasting connections between law enforcement and highway planners. That's why nearly a decade ago the Maryland Highway Safety Office (MHSO) developed a comprehensive training program for traffic commanders that melds police work with concepts such as strategic planning and data-driven decision making that are more often the purview of engineers.

Leading Effective Traffic Enforcement Programs

Maryland's traffic commander leadership program is called the Leading Effective Traffic Enforcement Program (LETEP). Since LETEP was founded in 2008, there have been nearly one dozen classes with up to 25 traffic police commanders in each, including commanders from outside Maryland.

The program has been refined with insights from past students, experts outside the law enforcement community, and curriculum consultants. The LETEP approach is unique because it trains traffic police leaders on the importance of roadway design and safety concepts, so that officers in the field play a key role in identifying and reporting roadway safety needs, such as dangerous intersection or curves.

Traffic officers are trained in basic engineering concepts and effectively become another set of eyes to inform infrastructure improvements and crash reduction strategies. LETEP also trains officers and leadership how to think beyond the traffic ticket: the core of the curriculum is about encouraging law enforcement to go beyond traditional police work and ask why; to consider how and if their work is having an impact on reducing serious crashes.

Maryland is also unique in that representatives from law enforcement lead several of its State Highway Strategic Plan (SHSP) emphasis areas. Of the state's six emphasis areas, four are behavioral (aggressive driving, distracted driving, impaired driving, occupant protection) and two are engineering related (highway infrastructure, pedestrian crashes), demonstrating the range of safety areas and strategy-making where law enforcement is involved.

LETEP Challenges

The LETEP curriculum is mature and is a proven, effective way to mesh the goals of law enforcement leadership and traffic engineers. But, the real-life responsibilities of traffic divisions can differ greatly. A traffic division in a city, for instance, may be constantly working to make sure that events such as fairs, races, and baseball games are safe. They may be so pressed to maintain safe movement within their city that they do not have the bandwidth to proactively link their daily work with long- and short-term engineering solutions that can improve traffic safety.

While the results of the LETEP program can depend greatly on size, perspective, and agenda of specific law enforcement agencies, MHSO staff have developed personal relationships with every senior law enforcement executive in Maryland. Open channels from traffic planners to traffic enforcement leadership can help develop solutions for traffic divisions that find it difficult to implement LETEP insights.

LETEP Benefits

• After completing LETEP, traffic commanders have a fuller understanding of the “science” behind behavioral traffic safety countermeasures.
• This training provides traffic commanders with an understanding of how to better target their efforts for an impact on safety—for instance, by utilizing geospatial crash analysis tools to identify problem areas so as to direct sufficient resources to those areas utilizing appropriate countermeasures.
• Develops an expertise in Strategic Traffic Safety Planning including vigorous evaluation of their efforts.
• Provides police commanders an understanding of basic engineering concepts, so they can act as another set of eyes in the field.
• Encourages police commanders to become more safety proactive. If they recognize that they are often called to crashes at a particular left turn intersection, they can be proactive and communicate that insight to engineers.
• Provides law enforcement an understanding of the state's Strategic Highway Safety Plan, and how this plan guides local efforts. It also encourages their active involvement in the plan's development as well as its implementation through participation in Emphasis Area Teams.

Contact

Tom Gianni
Chief
Maryland Highway Safety Office
410-787-4014
TGianni@mva.maryland.gov