a The Phoenix Road Safety Studies, Department of Management , Bar Ilan University , Ramat-Gan , Israel.
Traffic Inj Prev. 2014;15(5):446-50. doi: 10.1080/15389588.2013.834531.
The policy of a public organization, such as police, may shape the norms and the behavior of the citizens. In line with this, police officers are expected by the public to comply with traffic laws and serve as an example for the citizenry. This study used on-site observations of civilian and police driver, comparing police officers' compliance with traffic laws to that of civilians.
We compared driver compliance with traffic laws for drivers in 3 groups of vehicles: traffic police cars, non-traffic police cars, and civilian cars. Four hundred sixty-six vehicles were observed and compared by vehicle type and whether a uniform was worn by the driver. We observed safety belt usage, signaling before turning, cellular phone usage, and giving way to traffic (measured by merging time).
We found evidence that generally drivers in police cars use seat belts while driving more that drivers in civilian cars do. In particular, more traffic police car drivers used seat belts than non-traffic police car drivers do. In addition, drivers in civilian cars and non-traffic police cars waited longer periods of time before merging right into traffic compared to traffic police car drivers.
Our findings supported the notion that on-duty police officers, and traffic police officers in particular, adhere more closely to traffic laws compared to civilian drivers. As the general public compliance with traffic laws is affected by the police perceived legitimacy, the publication of these results can both boost public cooperation with the police and encourage police officers to continue providing positive role models to the public.
公共组织（如警察）的政策可能会影响公民的规范和行为。根据这一点，公众期望警察遵守交通法规，并为公民树立榜样。本研究通过对平民和警察驾驶员的现场观察，比较了警察遵守交通法规的情况与平民的遵守情况。
我们比较了 3 组车辆（交通警车、非交通警车和民用车辆）中驾驶员遵守交通法规的情况。通过车辆类型和驾驶员是否穿着制服对 466 辆车进行了观察和比较。我们观察了安全带使用、转弯前的信号、使用手机和让行交通（通过合并时间测量）的情况。
我们发现有证据表明，一般来说，驾驶警车的驾驶员在开车时比驾驶民用汽车的驾驶员更系安全带。特别是，交通警察的安全带使用率高于非交通警察的安全带使用率。此外，与交通警车司机相比，民用汽车和非交通警车司机在并入右侧交通之前等待的时间更长。
我们的研究结果支持这样一种观点，即执勤警察，特别是交通警察，比民用司机更严格地遵守交通法规。由于公众对交通法规的遵守程度受到警察被认为是合法的影响，因此公布这些结果既可以促进公众与警察的合作，又可以鼓励警察继续为公众树立积极的榜样。
