Safety evaluation of automated speed enforcement cameras operated through a private finance initiative system in Saudi Arabia

In 2010, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) launched one of the largest fixed and mobile automated speed enforcement cameras in the world. The main purpose of this program is to eliminate or considerably reduce the high volume of speeding violations and speed-related collisions on the KSA’s main road network. The traffic enforcement equipment and program were purchased and operated through a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) system from 2010 to 2015. Thus, the main objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the Mobile Speed Enforcement Cameras (MSECs) operated through PFI in KSA using the safety performance of a major expressway in Madinah Region as a case study. Negative Binomial (NB) regression and observational Empirical Bayes (EB) before-and-after study were performed to develop Crash Modification Factors for all collision combined and the three collision severity levels of Property Damage Only (PDO), Serious Injury (SI), and fatal, using the collision data for six years. The results from both methods agreed in that, after accounting for all other variables, MSECs operating through PFI did not contribute to improved safety performance. Collision frequency of PDO, SI, and all collisions increased with the presence of MSECs, with the greatest effect observed for PDO collisions. For fatal collisions, the NB regression yielded an insignificant effect for MSECs while the EB analysis showed that there was a relatively weak evidence of decreasing fatal collisions with the introduction of MSECs. Although the study’s results are in contrast to most studies in the literature, potential reasons for this finding can be related to the mode of operation of MSECs through PFI. As the main motivation of the private sector is to maximize profit, it is possible that the MSECs are installed at locations with high potential of speed violations instead of high potential for collisions.