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Highway patrol
 
 
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A highway patrol is either a police
Police

Police are agents or agencies, usually of the executive , empowered to enforce the law and to ensure public and social order through the legitimized use of force....
 unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance
Compliance

Compliance can mean:*In mechanical science , the inverse matrix of stiffness*Compliance , a patient's adherence to a recommended course of treatment...
 on roads and highways, such as the California Highway Patrol
California Highway Patrol

The California Highway Patrol is the state police force of California. It was originally created in 1929 as a highway patrol agency to ensure road safety in California but assumed greater responsibility with the passage of time....
, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is primarily concerned with such duties, such as the HWP units of Australian state police forces, or the New York City Police Department Highway Patrol
New York City Police Department Highway Patrol

The New York City Police Department Highway Patrol, also known as the NYPD Highway Patrol or by the shorthand NYPD HWY, is a specialized unit under the auspices of the NYPD's NYPD Transportation Bureau primarily responsible for patrolling and maintaining traffic safety on limited-access highways within New York City....
.

Duties of highway patrols or traffic police include the following:



a class="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m1392260",this)' onMouseout='hide("m1392260")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Germany">Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, traffic policing on highways is the responsibility of the Autobahnpolizei
Autobahnpolizei

Autobahnpolizei is the term in Germany, Austria and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland for the highway patrol. Heavy traffic and high-speed accidents resulted in the creation of special police units to patrol the expressways known as Autobahn....
, otherwise of the state police.

state police
State police

State police are a type of sub-national territorial police force, particularly in Australia and the United States. Some other countries have analogous police forces, such as the provincial police in some Canada provinces, while in other places, the same responsibilities are held by national police forces....
 agencies in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 are, for historical reasons, referred to as a highway patrol organization.

For instance, the California Highway Patrol
California Highway Patrol

The California Highway Patrol is the state police force of California. It was originally created in 1929 as a highway patrol agency to ensure road safety in California but assumed greater responsibility with the passage of time....
 is actually a state police agency, meaning that it is a police body having statewide authority to conduct law enforcement activities and criminal investigations.






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A highway patrol is either a police
Police

Police are agents or agencies, usually of the executive , empowered to enforce the law and to ensure public and social order through the legitimized use of force....
 unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance
Compliance

Compliance can mean:*In mechanical science , the inverse matrix of stiffness*Compliance , a patient's adherence to a recommended course of treatment...
 on roads and highways, such as the California Highway Patrol
California Highway Patrol

The California Highway Patrol is the state police force of California. It was originally created in 1929 as a highway patrol agency to ensure road safety in California but assumed greater responsibility with the passage of time....
, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is primarily concerned with such duties, such as the HWP units of Australian state police forces, or the New York City Police Department Highway Patrol
New York City Police Department Highway Patrol

The New York City Police Department Highway Patrol, also known as the NYPD Highway Patrol or by the shorthand NYPD HWY, is a specialized unit under the auspices of the NYPD's NYPD Transportation Bureau primarily responsible for patrolling and maintaining traffic safety on limited-access highways within New York City....
.

Duties of highway patrols or traffic police include the following:

  • Traffic enforcement: enforcing laws and regulations intended to improve traffic safety, such as speed limits
  • Emergency response: securing the scene of a traffic accident by using cones and flares as well as providing first aid
    First aid

    First aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury. It is usually performed by a layman to a sick or injured Casualty until definitive medical treatment can be accessed....
     to the injured
  • Accident investigation: gathering evidence to determine the cause of a roadway accident
    Accident

    An accident is a specific, identifiable, unexpected, unusual and unintended external action which occurs in a particular time and place, without apparent or deliberate cause but with marked effects....
  • Commercial vehicle enforcement: enforcing highway laws related to commercial transport, including weight limits and hazardous materials rules
  • General law enforcement: assisting local police, especially 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
  • Education: providing public information, handouts and displays to encourage safe driving and usage of the roads


Germany

In Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, traffic policing on highways is the responsibility of the Autobahnpolizei
Autobahnpolizei

Autobahnpolizei is the term in Germany, Austria and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland for the highway patrol. Heavy traffic and high-speed accidents resulted in the creation of special police units to patrol the expressways known as Autobahn....
, otherwise of the state police.

United States

Many state police
State police

State police are a type of sub-national territorial police force, particularly in Australia and the United States. Some other countries have analogous police forces, such as the provincial police in some Canada provinces, while in other places, the same responsibilities are held by national police forces....
 agencies in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 are, for historical reasons, referred to as a highway patrol organization.

For instance, the California Highway Patrol
California Highway Patrol

The California Highway Patrol is the state police force of California. It was originally created in 1929 as a highway patrol agency to ensure road safety in California but assumed greater responsibility with the passage of time....
 is actually a state police agency, meaning that it is a police body having statewide authority to conduct law enforcement activities and criminal investigations. In addition to its highway patrol duties described above, it performs functions outside the normal purview of the city police or the county
County

A county is a land area of Local government government within a larger state. A county may have city and towns within its area....
 sheriff
Sheriff

A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
, such as enforcing traffic laws on state highways and interstate expressways, overseeing the security of the state capitol complex, protecting the governor, training new officers for local police forces too small to operate an academy, providing technological and scientific support services, and helping to coordinate multi-jurisdictional task force activity in serious or complicated cases. The California Highway Patrol also serves as bailiffs and courtroom deputies for certain state courts, such as the appellate courts. The state traffic enforcement agency retained the name "California Highway Patrol" after the merger of the smaller California State Police
California State Police

The California State Police was a security police agency founded in 1887 which served to protect the California State Capitol, the Governor of California and other state agencies located throughout the state....
 with the larger California Highway Patrol and the combination of their functions into one agency.

However, some Highway Patrol organizations, such as the North Carolina State Highway Patrol
North Carolina State Highway Patrol

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol is the highway patrol agency for North Carolina, which has jurisdiction anywhere in the state except for federal or military installations....
 are specifically charged with the enforcement of traffic laws, and while able to enforce other laws, they are not "state police" agencies in the same vein as the California Highway Patrol or the New Jersey State Police
New Jersey State Police

The New Jersey State Police is the state police force for the state of New Jersey. It is a general-powers police agency with state wide jurisdiction, designated by Troop Sectors....
. In other cases, states like Texas have a bona fide and appropriately-named state police department such as the Texas Department of Public Safety
Texas Department of Public Safety

The Texas Department of Public Safety is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The DPS is responsible for statewide law enforcement and vehicle regulation....
, of which only one arm is a highway patrol unit.

A privately compiled list of Highway Patrol organizations and similar state police
State police

State police are a type of sub-national territorial police force, particularly in Australia and the United States. Some other countries have analogous police forces, such as the provincial police in some Canada provinces, while in other places, the same responsibilities are held by national police forces....
 agencies is available on the Web. The Iowa State Patrol
Iowa State Patrol

The Iowa State Patrol is the state police organization in the state of Iowa. Currently, there are just over 378 officers in the patrol. State Troopers are responsible for patrolling over 112,000 miles of roadways in the state....
 maintains a list of phone numbers and *
Asterisk

An 'asterisk' is a typographical symbol or glyph. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often pronounce it as star ....
 and # cell phone numbers for non-emergency calls to the dispatchers of the Highway Patrol organizations in all 50 states. These numbers are useful for motorists who want to report aggressive drivers
Aggressive driving

Aggressive driving is a form of automobile operation in which an operator will deliberately behave with contempt towards other drivers and drive in such a manner as to increase the risk of an automobile accident....
, drunken drivers
Driving under the influence

Driving under the influence of alcohol or other Psychoactive drugs, is the act of operating a vehicle after consuming alcoholic beverage or using Psychoactive drugs....
, or other dangerous but not life-threatening situations that do not require a 9-1-1
9-1-1

9-1-1 is the emergency telephone number for the North American Numbering Plan . It is one of eight N11 codes. In some jurisdictions, the use of this number is reserved for true emergency circumstances only....
 call.

United Kingdom

In United Kingdom police forces, traffic policing is the responsibility of the Road Policing Unit
Road Policing Unit

The Road Policing Unit is the term for the Highway patrol within the majority of Policing in the United Kingdom....
s of the territorial police forces.