A marketing campaign emphasizing safe driving, and a policy that prohibits police officers from driving more than 20 mph over the speed limit helped to reduce car crash and injury rates in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, according to a new study.

The study, by Hope Tiesman and colleagues from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, was published this month in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. Tiesman also discussed the findings in an article on the PoliceOne.com website.

The safety program implemented by LVMPD included a policy that restricts officers who are driving with lights and sirens from going 20 mph over the posted speed limit. Another policy requires officers to drive with a supervisor when transferring into a new unit or following a crash. Training requirements were increased, and a marketing campaign reminded officers to wear their seat belts.

After the program was launched, motor vehicle crash rates fell by 14%, from 2.2 crashes per 100,000 miles driven to 1.9. Motor vehicle injury rates decreased 31% among officers overall, and by 48% for patrol officers, to 1.6 per 100 officers.

The decreases in crash and injury rates weren’t seen in a comparison group of agencies that didn’t implement the safety program.

“Crash and injury rates can be reduced after implementation of a crash prevention program, and the largest impacts were seen in patrol officers,” the authors concluded.