SOCIOLOGY OF DRIVERS: A LONGITUDINAL SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF DRIVERS INVOLVED IN SERIOUS ROAD ACCIDENTS

216 drivers who had been subjected to sociological scrutiny at the time of traffic crashes in which they had been involved in the Brisbane Metropolitan area in 1964 and 1965 were reviewed after an interval of seven years. The crashes warranting inclusion of a driver in the survey were a random sample of metropolitan accidents of sufficient severity for an ambulance to be summoned. Documented information regarding traffic and criminal convictions subsequent to the survey accident was analyzed with respect to all 216 drivers; 75 percent of the 208 surviving drivers were recaptured for sociological interview. Findings indicate that those characteristics which appeared to differentiate this accident group from a control group at the time of the original survey continue to be descriptive of the accident group: in particular their involvement in criminal activities is much greater than found in the community at large, for over 30 percent of the total (including 60 percent of those involved in single vehicle accidents) have now experienced conviction for criminal offences. Comment is made on the relevance of these findings to design of countermeasures to the road accident problem, and upon the need for specific help to accident victims to overcome the social and economic hardships produced by involvement in traffic crashes. /Author/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This study was sponsored by the Australian Department of Transportation.
• Corporate Authors:

  Royal Brisbane Hospital

  Herston, Queensland,   Australia 
• Authors:
  • Armstrong, J L
  • Jamieson, K G
• Publication Date: 1973-5

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 43 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crimes; Drivers; High risk drivers; Human characteristics; Injuries; Social factors
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver characteristics
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00084783
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Safety Council Safety Research Info Serv
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 2 1975 12:00AM