Speed Studies

One of the most frequent issues raised by residents of the Village relates to traffic conditions and speeding vehicles in the neighborhoods. Often, residents will call or e-mail the police department with information that does not relate to a specific vehicle, driver or incident, but with a more general concern pertaining to the entire “traffic picture” of a given area.

In the past, without understanding the nature of the problem, these situations would have been addressed by assigning patrol officers to conduct radar enforcement at various days and times, hoping to have a positive effect on the traffic conditions. Depending on the specific circumstances, it could take several days or weeks to gather sufficient information to form an accurate picture of the traffic flow, patterns and speed trends. Not only was this an inefficient approach to traffic enforcement, but frequently the police department would spend a considerable amount of time conducting radar enforcement, only to learn that that the speeding problem was limited to a handful of vehicles at specific times of the day.

Data Gathering

To more effectively deal with these concerns, the police department uses StealthStat. StealthStat produces a detailed report which include both the number of vehicles surveyed. the average vehicle speed and percentile statistics. Armed with this data, the police department can accurately determine the extent of any speed-related problems and take specific traffic enforcement actions based on the day(s) of the week and time of day when the study has indicated most of the speeding violations have occurred.

When a resident calls or e-mails the police department with a specific speeding concern, the department will initiate a traffic study as soon as practical (based upon instrument availability, weather conditions, etc). The results of the speed study will be communicated to the individual making the request, and will be posted on our web site.

Completed Studies

The following is a list of recent speed studies that have been conducted by the Vernon Hills Police Department: