Is speeding more likely during weekend night hours? Evidence from sensor-collected data in Montreal

A number of traffic safety studies have investigated temporal variations in road safety indicators such as crash frequency, confirming that such variations exist. This paper examined whether speeding is more likely on weekend nights relative to all other times of the day by directly comparing speeding during weekends and weekdays. To this end, we analyzed a sample of local streets, in Montreal, for which speed data were collected automatically using traffic analyzer sensors. We found that, interestingly, weekend speeding was less likely to occur during night hours, whereas it was more likely to occur during evening and midday hours. Among other findings, the results indicated that one-way streets and those having a speed limit of 50 km/h were slightly less prevalent in speeding on weekends. Our results can be useful in designing road safety interventions, including publicity campaigns and police enforcement, which aim at reducing speeding behaviours.