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UNINTENTIONAL SHOOTINGS, HIGHWAY CRASHES AND ACTS OF VIOLENCE--A BEHAVIOR PARADIGM

There have been few investigations on the simultaneous relationships among unintentional nonhighway injury, highway injury and intentional violence. This paper examines some of these relationships. It was hypothesized that if a relationship between unintentional injury and violence exists in the nonhighway setting as it does in the highway situation, it would likely involve a product assoicated with perpetuation of violence, namely guns. A study was made of individuals involved in unintentional shootings in Vermont during 1967. 47 residents of driving age were studied. Three groups were formed: 34 who shot themselves, 13 persons shot by someone else, and 94 randomly selected drivers of same sex and similar age to the shooters and those they shot. Relationships between the shooters group and the other two groups were analyzed using the Chi-square test or Fisher's Exact Test for homogeneity, respectively where appropriate. The shooters had previous recordd of arrests, violence, alcohol abuse, highway crashes and citations for moving violations more than the comparison group. Persons shot resembled the comparison group. As a category persons involved in unintentional shootings are more likely to have previous arrest records and worse traffic records than does the comparison group not involved in shootings. A relationship exists between arrests and highway crashes for individuals who are shooters but not for individuals in the comparison group. With respect to injuries involving guns, individuals who initiate unintentional injury producing events in the nonhighway setting also are excessively represented in highway crashes and in acts of intentional villence. Note is taken of the role of alcohol ingestion in activating deviant driving and other behavior among problem drinkers. Alcohol was frequently found in the past histories of shooters. A behavioral model relevant to specific situations with alcohol is suggested, in which poor control of aggressive tendencies is associated with intentional acts of violence and with unintentional injury both on the highway and elsewhere.

  • Availability:
  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Presented in briefer version at Third Triennial Congress on Medical and Related Aspects of Motor Vehicle Accidents, New York, May 29, 1969
  • Corporate Authors:

    Pergamon Press, Incorporated

    Maxwell House, Fairview Park
    Elmsford, NY  United States  10523
  • Authors:
    • Waller, J A
    • Whorton, E B
  • Publication Date: 1973-12

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00084316
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: National Safety Council
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Apr 22 1975 12:00AM