Traffic Enforcement at PSA 2 High Collision Intersections

Traffic safety is a serious matter of concern for the Whittier Police Department. In 2007, Whittier had 941 traffic collisions that included 11 fatalities and 478 injuries. Whittier has 11 “high collision intersections.” Eight of those intersections fall within PSA 2. In fact, PSA 2 accounts for 83% of the traffic collisions that occur at high collision intersections. PSA 2 high collision intersections include:

• Santa Fe Springs Rd &Washington Blvd


• Whittier Blvd & Laurel Ave


• Mulberry Dr & Greenleaf Ave


• Whittier Blvd & Mar Vista St


• Painter Ave & Lambert Rd


• Whittier Blvd & Painter Ave


• Hadley St & Whittier Blvd


• Santa Fe Springs Rd & Mulberry Dr.

A study by Northwestern University indicates that directed traffic enforcement has a positive impact on traffic collision and injury reduction. This study looked at a concept called the “traffic index.” The traffic index is a percentage based ratio that compares the number of injury traffic collisions with the number of hazardous violation citations that are issued by officers. Hazardous violations include traffic offenses related to speed, stop signs, red lights, seatbelts and other unsafe moving violations.

The Northwestern study indicates that in order for an agency to have any measurable impact on the reduction of injury traffic collisions, it must maintain a traffic enforcement index of 25%. The Whittier Police Department typically averages a traffic index of only 13%. PSA 2 officers are committed to reducing the number of death and injury related traffic collisions by aggressively changing this statistic.

Therefore, PSA 2 personnel will be partnering with the WPD Traffic Bureau to help reduce the number of collisions in PSA 2. This will be a multi-faceted approach that will include an educational campaign and strict enforcement of hazardous traffic violations in and around the areas of these high collision intersections. By doing so, we hope to save lives and reduce injuries caused by unnecessary traffic collisions. In order to better serve and protect our community, we will be heavily enforcing hazardous vehicle code violations. If stopped and found to be in violation, law enforcement will issue citations without warning.