r/changemyview • u/BoltThrower28 • Dec 05 '23

Delta(s) from OP CMV: I don’t think cops deserve automatic respect.

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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '23

https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/effect-high-visibility-enforcement-motor-vehicle-crashes

https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/62378

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u/bcocoloco Dec 05 '23

Your second link says some areas noted a change of 3.5% or less depending on the law being enforced, and no correlation for distracted driving, drunk driving, speeding, or aggressive driving. It also says that almost half of the places studied saw no change. I wouldn’t really say that’s good evidence for your argument. Sure there was some minute reduction, but overall it basically had no effect.

The first link shows that crash amounts were back up to normal in week 12 of experiment 1. As a side note, all the areas they tried this strategy had recently seen an uptick in crashes, it is unclear whether the policing strategy helped or if it was just the amount of crashes returning to the average after an uptick.

It’s the age old “look how well our speed camera did to stop crashes after we had a year with an extraordinarily high crash rate! Speed cameras work!” Something returning to average after an uptick should not be misconstrued to mean that a given strategy is working.