Recent years, traffic cameras have proliferated in an effort to more effectively catch speeders. Describe speeding from the point of view of routine activities theory and how cameras might or might not influence driving at unsafe speeds

Question

And then propose theoretically relevant (but cheaper) alternatives that might accomplish the same outcome.
What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Possible answer: According to routine activities theory, adding a capable guardian in the form of a traffic camera will reduce the amount of traffic violations in that area by ensuring that the law is enforced. If one wants to speed and knows that an area enforces speed by traffic camera, they may choose to speed in areas not monitored or face fines. One possible alternative would be to park an unmanned police vehicle in an area you wish to enforce, perhaps with a dummy to make people believe it is a manned vehicle. This may reduce speeding given the same premise – that people do not want to get caught. By making the police vehicle visible, you may have the same impact (at least until people catch on).