Traffic safety has been a main concern of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) for many years.

“In the United States alone, 20,000 first responders are injured each year when called out to traffic incidents,” said IACP Past President Chief Steven R. Casstevens in Un-jamming Traffic: Driving Toward Safer, Quicker Clearance of Traffic Incidents. “In 2019, 44 responders, including 18 law enforcement officers, died in the line of duty when struck by a vehicle at an incident scene.”¹

Taking one’s eyes off the road, hands off the wheel, and focus away from driving can increase an individual’s risk of being involved in a crash.² One responsibility of law enforcement officers is to identify distracted drivers, so they do not become a threat to other drivers or themselves. Once the officer stops the motorist, however, the officer becomes endangered due to being near the roadway.

Not only is traffic safety a priority for the IACP, but also for companies producing traffic-related tools for law enforcement officers. These companies’ products and tools allow police officers to execute traffic stops in a quick, efficient manner, increasing their own safety, as well as the safety of motorists on the road.

Observing Dangerous Driving

Almost everyone deals with traffic, whether they are commuting to work, going to the grocery store, or bringing children to school. Therefore, most people have encountered drivers who don’t abide by speed limits. These individuals pose a threat to themselves and others on the road, and it is an officer’s job to identify the problem.

For more than 40 years, JAMAR Technologies, Inc., (JAMAR) has been providing traffic data recorders to law enforcement agencies so they can gather hard evidence of when and where speeding is a problem.

The Law Enforcement Radar Recorder with STARnext software allows police officers to do just that. The radar-sensing antenna is housed in a small Pelican case along with a 12V lithium battery that allows the unit to be portable and run for up to 10 days. The case is strapped to a pole near the side of the road and pointed toward traffic. The radar detects vehicles as they pass in each direction of the road and stores the speed and length of each individual vehicle.

“What people sometimes don’t understand is that recording the traffic data is only half the battle,” said Mike Overholt, general manager at JAMAR. “The other, equally important half, is the software used to analyze and report on that data.”³

The STARnext software sets this product apart from competitors because it focuses on the analyzing and reporting half. After the “study period” of recording data has ended, the data are downloaded to the STARnext software, which provides features such as the Speed Enforcement Evaluator, Enforcement Scheduler, Best Times to Enforce Report, and Speed Data Analysis Report.

When the radar recorder was brought to market in 2007, it was eagerly adopted by law enforcement personnel because they could now gather the needed data without having to enter the roadway and be put in danger.

Stopping Motorists

Once the officer has identified a motorist who is not following traffic safety protocols, the traffic stop process begins.

Founded in Chicago and now headquartered in Gilbert, Arizona, TOMAR Electronics, Inc., (TOMAR) provides warning products in the industrial and emergency industry.

TOMAR’s Scorpion Light Bar and Black Widow Light Bar stemmed from officers’ relying on warning and scene lighting. The Scorpion Light Bar features a sturdy extruded aluminum housing, cast aluminum end caps, and Lexan light modules. The Black Widow Light Bar offers a similar construction but has a powder-coated black exterior. A patented linear vibration welding process is used to hermetically seal each individual module, ensuring electrical components are dust- and waterproof and resulting in a longer lasting lightbar that can withstand commonly encountered harsh environments.

These external lightbars allow for bright and effective warning lights with Clear Vision Optics (CVOs), which feature a hybrid Total Internal Reflector (TIR) collimator to collect more of the LEDs’ lumens and direct them where needed. “This allows officers and other emergency personnel to work close to their warning lights while providing effective warning light down the road for oncoming traffic and the surrounding public,” said Sean McShea, headquarters account manager at TOMAR.⁴

The external lightbars come with various mounting options to fit a patrol vehicle and have fully programmable flash patterns. With TOMAR’s 948L-SIREN-R controller and amplifier package, officers can control any traffic situation by using a four-position progressive slide-switch, six independent auxiliary switches, arrow function button, rotary switch for siren tone selection, and LED indicators for the integrated traffic arrows in full size bars.

Screening for Impairment

Following the identification of an individual who is breaking traffic laws, the officer must have the correct tools to evaluate the driver for potential impairment.

The St. Louis, Missouri-based Intoximeters can assist law enforcement personnel with DUI enforcement and prevention products such as the SoToxa Mobile Test System. In 2019, Intoximeters partnered with Abbott, manufacturer of the SoToxa Mobile Test System, to add roadside oral fluid drug testing to its list of law enforcement solutions for traffic safety.

Handheld, portable, and yielding results in as fast as five minutes, the SoToxa Mobile Test System is an analyzer that screens for six different classes of drugs in oral fluid. “Oral fluid serves as an ideal screening matrix compared to urine and blood, since it is easy to collect and because it allows for a shorter window of detection that helps ties the use of the drug closer to the time of driving,” said Phil Simmons, director of North American Sales and Marketing.⁵

The fluid is collected by a swab of the inside of a subject’s cheeks. When the swab turns blue, it is then inserted into a cartridge that has been placed in the instrument. The cartridge is then heated, and the fluid sample is mixed with the kit reagents.

The lightweight device comes paired with a carrying case and printer. It can also store test results for later printing.

Printing Traffic Citations

Also used during traffic stops are the mobile printers from Seiko Instruments USA, Inc., based out of Torrance, California. Rather than using pen and paper to complete traffic citations, officers and agencies have been moving to e-citations, accelerating productivity and increasing the safety of officers in the field.

Seiko’s reputation with the law enforcement community continues to grow by consistently delivering quality, reliability, and innovation to the field with devices such as the MP-A40 Rugged Four-Inch Mobile Printer and the MP-B30 Three-Inch Mobile Printer for mission critical applications in traffic enforcement, including e-citations and parking applications.⁶

As a mission critical component in the output for traffic enforcement documents, Seiko’s mobile printers provide seamless and easy integration with ruggedized phones, tablets, and laptops. In many e-citation applications, the MP-A40 printer is mounted in the police vehicle and directly connected to the vehicle power. The printer communicates with a laptop or tablet via a direct USB or Bluetooth connection. In parking ticket applications, the printer is carried on an officer’s belt clip, shoulder strap, or printer case. The MP-A40 will run on its own battery power and lasts an entire shift.

Both the MP-A40 and MP-B30 mobile printers are designed to be compact and feature multiple accessory options to best suit an officer’s needs. They are also designed to withstand harsh environments.

The IACP is committed to supporting officer safety by providing materials and resources to help officers keep roadways safer for themselves and other motorists. Companies providing traffic-related products are seeking to do the same, devising innovative tools to reduce the time officers spend on the side of the road.

Notes:

¹ “A Letter From the IACP President,” Un-Jamming Traffic: Driving Toward Safer, Quicker Clearance of Traffic Incidents, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2020.

²Distracted Driving: Promising Practices and Lessons Learned from the Field, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2020.

³Mike Overholt (general manager, JAMAR Technologies, Inc.), email interview, May 27, 2021.

⁴Sean McShea (headquarters account manager, TOMAR Electronics), email interview, June 3, 2021.

⁵Phil Simmons (director of North American sales and marketing, Intoximeters), email interview, June 7, 2021.

⁶Matt Schmitz (director of sales and business development and Seiko Instruments USA), email interview, June 2, 2021.