High occupancy vehicle lane enforcement : current structure needs review

Follow-Up Review 11-30

December 2011

Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts
Performance Audit Operations
Russell Hinton, State Auditor Leslie McGuire, Director

Why we did this review
This follow-up review was conducted to determine the extent to which the Georgia Department of Public Safety has addressed the recommendations presented in our November 2008 performance audit (Report #08-21).
The purpose of the November 2008 performance audit was to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of HOV lane enforcement in Georgia. The review identified measures that, if implemented, could strengthen the state's efforts to enforce HOV laws.
Who we are
The Performance Audit Operations Division was established in 1971 to conduct in-depth reviews of state programs. The purpose of our reviews is to determine if programs are meeting their goals and objectives; provide measurements of program results and effectiveness; identify other means of meeting goals; evaluate the efficiency of resource allocation; assess compliance with laws and regulations; and provide credible management information to decisionmakers.
Website: www.audits.ga.gov Phone: 404-657-5220 Fax: 404-656-7535

Follow-Up Review High Occupancy Vehicle Lane Enforcement
Current Structure Needs Review
What we found The Department of Public Safety (DPS) has taken limited action to address the findings and recommendations in our 2008 performance audit. Overall, DPS continues to make inefficient use of the 12 officers assigned to its HOV lane enforcement unit. The inefficiencies are the result of the unit's organizational placement within DPS's Motor Carrier and Compliance Division (MCCD) and the lack of additional activities being assigned to the unit's officers.
To address these inefficiencies, our 2008 performance audit recommended that the responsibility for HOV lane enforcement be transferred to the Georgia State Patrol (GSP) within DPS. As shown Exhibit 1 on the following page, HOV lane enforcement is more closely aligned with GSP's responsibility for traffic law enforcement than with MCCD's responsibility for commercial truck inspections and enforcement. If GSP were to become responsible for HOV lane enforcement, GSP troopers would conduct HOV lane enforcement in conjunction with their normal traffic law enforcement duties. Although federal regulations require the enforcement of HOV lanes, they do not specifically require the state to expend resources on a unit solely dedicated to enforcing HOV lane compliance 16 hours per day, five days per week, 52 weeks per year. To date, DPS has not transferred the responsibility of HOV lane enforcement to GSP.
The original audit indicated that if HOV lane enforcement responsibility remained within MCCD, DPS should identify duties that HOV officers could conduct during periods in which few HOV violations occur. However, DPS has not maximized the use of the HOV officers during non-peak HOV lane usage by either assigning them other general traffic enforcement

High Occupancy Vehicle Lane Enforcement

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responsibilities, providing them portable weight scales to conduct commercial truck weight inspections, or requiring an increased number of commercial truck safety inspections.
To provide HOV lane enforcement during each 3hour peak rush hour period, the HOV unit continues to operate two 8-hour shifts (6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.). In effect, the HOV unit operates for 16 hours to provide six hours of peak enforcement coverage. Although HOV officers may observe other traffic violations (such as speeding) during their shifts, they typically initiate vehicle stops only when they are related to an HOV violation. Approximately 90% of the unit's citations written by the HOV unit for the nine month period January 1 through September 15, 2010 were written in conjunction with an HOV stop. As shown in Exhibit 2 below, citation activity decreases significantly during times when HOV lane usage is less prevalent. During the 3-hour peak period of each shift, each HOV officer wrote, on average, approximately 2.3 citations (0.75 per hour). During the remaining five hours, each officer wrote approximately 1.2 citations (0.24 per hour).

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Exhibit 3 HOV Officer Hours (CY 2010)

2% 2% 8%

Patrol

20%

Administrative

Training
68% Court

Source: HOV Activity Reports Note: This does not include supervisors.

Special Detail, Other Agency Assignment

As shown in Exhibit 3, full-time HOV officers patrolled for approximately 70% of their time (or 5.6 hours per 8-hour shift) in calendar year 2010. During this patrol time, HOV officers do not engage in a significant amount of commercial vehicle enforcement activities during times when HOV lane usage is low. We found that although HOV officers are trained to conduct commercial truck inspections, each officer conducted an average of 81 inspections (or one every three days) in calendar year 2010. Additionally, each officer wrote approximately 97 commercial citations or warnings for the year (or one commercial citation or warning every two to three days). Finally, HOV officers wrote only two citations for commercial vehicle size violations in calendar year 2010, and zero for weight violations because they do not have portable scales to conduct weight inspections.

Prior to 2001, HOV lane enforcement was assigned to MCCD while it operated under the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT). To receive federal funds to create HOV lanes beginning in 1994, GDOT was required to develop an enforcement plan. GDOT created the dedicated unit within MCCD because state and local law enforcement agencies would not accept responsibility for HOV lane enforcement at that time. MCCD was subsequently moved to DPS in 2005. The HOV unit currently has 12 officers and two supervisors. In fiscal year 2011, the HOV unit received approximately $979,000 in revenue--approximately $371,000 (38%) in state funds and $525,000 (54%) from fees collected by GDOT for overweight and oversize truck permits. The HOV unit received the remaining $83,000 (8%) from commercial vehicle registration fees collected by the Department of Revenue.
DPS opposes moving the responsibility for HOV lane enforcement because state law assigns the duty to MCCD. It should be noted, however, that by law GSP has the authority to enforce all traffic laws, which would include HOV lanes. In addition, the General Assembly could change the law to remove responsibility for HOV lane enforcement from MCCD. Current HOV officers could then be assigned to an MCCD weigh station funded through federal grants or the $608,000 in GDOT and DOR fees currently going to the HOV unit. In addition, DPS opposes transfer of responsibility to GSP because it says that it is already low on staff. To accommodate increased duties, however, the state could move the $371,000 in state funds used for HOV lane enforcement in fiscal year 2011 to GSP to fund additional troopers. In addition, state law could be amended to permit the fine revenue from troopers' HOV citations to be redirected to GSP, similar to citations written by GSP's motorcycle unit. In calendar year 2010, HOV fine revenue was approximately $591,000.

In addition to the 12 HOV officers, four additional officers began patrolling the new HOV Express Lanes (i.e., HOT lanes) full time in October 2011. These officers are paid for by the State Road and Tollway Authority.

DPS Response: DPS indicated that the new commissioner will review the original report and take it under advisement for any future changes that might occur. "As the follow-up points out, the whole landscape and nature of the HOV lanes has changed with the introduction and potential future expansion of the new HOT lanes."
The following table summarizes the findings and recommendations in our 2008 report and actions taken by the Department to address them. A copy of the original 2008 performance audit report may be accessed by searching on Performance Report #08-21 at http://www.audits.ga.gov/rsaAudits.

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High Occupancy Vehicle Lane Enforcement Follow-Up Review, December 2011

Original Findings/Recommendations

Current Status

Consideration should be given to moving responsibility for HOV lane enforcement to the Georgia State Patrol, which is responsible for overall traffic enforcement.

Not Implemented DPS maintains this is a primary duty assigned to MCCD by Georgia statute.

If the HOV Enforcement Unit of MCCD continues to perform both HOV enforcement and truck inspections, action should be taken to improve its operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Partially Implemented - The HOV Enforcement Unit has increased from seven officers and two supervisors (a 56% vacancy rate) to 12 officers and two supervisors (a 13% vacancy rate). However, since two of the 12 officers are detached to other areas, 10 officers have full-time HOV patrol duties for the majority of the year.
MCCD has not given HOV officers additional responsibilities during non-peak hours when HOV lane usage is relatively low. As a result, HOV officers continue to conduct HOV enforcement for the entirety of their shifts, even though the majority of their citations (65%) occur during six of the 16 hours HOV officers are on duty.

In order to have the maximum impact in reducing the number of HOV lane violators, the HOV Enforcement Unit should develop an effective strategy for conducting HOV enforcement activities.

Not Implemented - The HOV Enforcement Unit has divided the HOV corridor into two "sectors" (North and South), and officers are distributed evenly between the sectors. However, individual officers still have discretion in determining where they will patrol within those sectors. Additionally, the HOV unit has not begun to systematically monitor the specific locations in which enforcement occurs to identify areas that may receive more attention than others.
As a result, enforcement in certain areas of the HOV corridor is significantly higher than others. For example, the I-85 northbound lane inside the I-285 perimeter received the largest proportion (18%) of the citations we reviewed; however, according to the GDOT violation study in our original report, the violation rate in that area is relatively low (4%) compared to the rest of the corridor. By contrast, three areas within the corridor receive relatively low levels of enforcement despite high violation rates.

In general, the graduated fine structure for HOV violations is not being applied.

Not Implemented The 2008 performance audit recommended changing the law to a single fine amount regardless of the number of prior violations. The graduated fine structure outlined in O.C.G.A. 40-6-54 has not been changed. Also, it appears that HOV violators are still assessed a fixed fine for the first HOV violation (up to $75) regardless of the number of violations. According to MCCD staff, HOV officers are unable to determine whether an HOV violator is a multiple offender during the vehicle stop, so the number of violations is not documented on the citation. In addition, court officers indicated that for various reasons (payment by mail, not accessing a violator's driving history prior to settling the fine, etc.), violators are typically fined the amount for the first HOV violation.

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High Occupancy Vehicle Lane Enforcement Follow-Up Review: December 2011

Original Findings/Recommendations

Current Status
Not Implemented - DPS continues to fund HOV lane enforcement with permit fees intended for the enforcement of commercial vehicle weight and size laws or for roadway maintenance. DPS maintains that the use of permit fees for HOV lane enforcement is appropriate absent a state or federal appropriation for the function.

The Department of Public Safety is utilizing funds intended for the purpose of vehicle weight and size enforcement for the enforcement of HOV lanes.

State law and the interagency agreement between GDOT and DPS indicate that permit fee revenue is payment for size and weight enforcement and does not include HOV enforcement. GDOT personnel stated that DPS should not use permit fees for HOV lane enforcement.

It should be noted that HOV officers do not have portable scales to conduct commercial weight inspections. Additionally, in calendar year 2010, only two of the HOV unit's 9,900 citations were for commercial offenses related to size.

The Georgia Department of Transportation is currently considering converting existing HOV lanes to High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes. While this would change how the lanes would operate, enforcement of these lanes would still be necessary.

Fully Implemented - DPS has entered into an agreement with the State Road and Tollway Authority to conduct enforcement of the new HOV Express Lanes (HOT lanes) beginning October 2011.
Four officers from the HOV Enforcement Unit will patrol HOT lanes full-time. These officers will be funded by the State Road and Tollway Authority. The HOV Enforcement Unit hired four additional officers to replace those that will be enforcing HOT lanes.

6 Recommendations

1 Fully Implemented 1 Partially Implemented 4 Not Implemented

For additional information or for copies of this report call 404-657-5220 or see our website: http://www.audits.ga.gov/rsaAudits