A highway patrol is either a police unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is primarily concerned with such duties.
Duties of highway patrols or traffic police may include the following:
- Accident investigation: Gathering evidence to determine the cause of a roadway accident.
- Commercial vehicle enforcement: Enforcing highway laws related to commercial transport, including weight limits and hazardous materials rules.
- Education: Providing public information, handouts, and displays to encourage safe driving and usage of the roads.
- Emergency response: Securing the scene of a traffic accident by using cones and flares as well as providing first aid to the injured.
- Law enforcement: Assisting local police in rural areas, and keeping an eye out for non-traffic violations.
- Maintenance: Observing and reporting damage to the roadways, and conducting hasty road surveys after disasters or the passage of inclement weather.
- Traffic enforcement: Enforcing laws and regulations intended to improve traffic safety, such as speed limits.
Read more about Highway Patrol: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States
Famous quotes containing the word highway:
“The improved American highway system ... isolated the American-in-transit. On his speedway ... he had no contact with the towns which he by-passed. If he stopped for food or gas, he was served no local fare or local fuel, but had one of Howard Johnson’s nationally branded ice cream flavors, and so many gallons of Exxon. This vast ocean of superhighways was nearly as free of culture as the sea traversed by the Mayflower Pilgrims.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)