TRAFFIC LAW SANCTIONS

Surveys of the driver population were conducted in Colorado, Maryland, and North Carolina for the purpose of determining driver perceptions on several different subjects, including (1) the chances of being caught by the police for specific unsafe driving actions, (2) the chances of being found guilty by the courts if a challenge were made, (3) the fine for a first violation of an offense, the perceived severity of the fine, and (5) other related topics of interest of a deterrence nature. Questions on these topics were asked on seven different offenses which had been identified in previous NHTSA research as being the primary unsafe driving actions associated with accident causation. The seven offenses were speeding 10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit, speeding 20 miles per hour over the posted speed limit, driving while intoxicated, running a traffic light or stop sign, following a moving car too closely, turning in front of oncoming traffic, and crossing the center line of the roadway. Through an independent data collection effort, it was also possible to obtain the citation history of all survey respondents and whether they had appeared in court for a particular violation. The number of citations for each type of offense was obtained for a three-year period prior to the survey. A total of over 2,600 drivers participated in the survey. The Final Report provides details on the survey responses as related to citation histories.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • See also PB81-209264.
• Corporate Authors:

  Public Management Services, Incorporated

  7798 Old Springhouse Road
  McLean, VA  United States  22101

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • McEwen, J T
  • McGuire, J P
• Publication Date: 1981-3

Media Info

• Pagination: 222 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcoholism; Attitudes; Courts; Data collection; Drivers; Law enforcement; Perception; Safety; Speeding; Surveys; Traffic conviction; Traffic courts; Traffic crashes; Traffic law enforcement; Traffic safety; Traffic violators; Velocity
• Uncontrolled Terms: Deterrents; Motor vehicle accidents
• Geographic Terms: Colorado; Maryland; North Carolina
• Old TRIS Terms: Driver perception
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00343070
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOT-HS-805-876 Final Rpt.
• Contract Numbers: DOT-HS-7-01508
• Files: NTIS, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Sep 16 1981 12:00AM