The law isn't everything: The impact of legal and non-legal sanctions on motorists' drink driving behaviors

Exploring the perceived effectiveness and strictness of penalties for traffic offences: The influence of prior punishment experience and evaluation perspective (personal vs. general)

INTRODUCTION

Previous research has identified the perception of penalties as one of the most important deterrents to road traffic offenses. This study investigated whether the perceived effectiveness and the perceived strictness of penalties for different traffic offenses are associated with prior punishment experience and evaluation perspective (personal - if participants were being punished themselves, vs. general - for punishing all drivers).

METHOD

A convenience sample of 1,374 Lithuanian drivers participated in the survey (56.3% males; aged 18-77 years). Among them, 801 participants had no penalties for traffic offenses, 333 reported monetary fines in the last year, and 240 reported having their drivers license suspended at least once in their driving career. A scale with 10 specific penalties for traffic offenses was developed to measure the perceived effectiveness and strictness of penalties. Half of the participants evaluated the penalties as if they were personally sanctioned for each traffic offense (personal perspective), while the other half assessed the effectiveness and strictness of the penalties for drivers in general.

RESULTS

The results indicated that the perceived effectiveness of penalties was related to the evaluation perspective, being higher for changing one's own behavior than for changing behavior in general. However, the perceived effectiveness of penalties was not related to prior punishment experience. Males and drivers who had experienced their license being suspended reported the highest perceived strictness of the penalties, whereas females and drivers with no prior punishment experience perceived penalties as the least strict.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

These findings suggest the need for developing new ways of communicating penalties to different groups of drivers. Nevertheless, this research was exploratory in nature and further research is warranted.

The effect of punishment and feedback on correcting erroneous behavior

INTRODUCTION

Understanding the consequences of non-punitive sanctions and feedback for nonintentional deviations (i.e., errors) is important to effective safety policy. This study aims to address a lack of research on the effects of punishment and feedback on correcting erroneous behavior in the context of multitasking.

METHOD

A Multi-Attribute Task Battery (MATB-II) was employed to simulate the demands of aviating, an important area of applied safety. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups (no intervention, punishment, feedback, punishment + feedback) and asked to perform the MATB-II. Punishment, feedback, and punishment + feedback decreased error and increased performance, with punishment alone having the greatest effect.

RESULTS

The results highlight the need for behavioral consequences or feedback to reduce erroneous behavior.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

From an applied perspective, these results have implications for policy and training.

Targeting young driver emotions can reduce their cellphone distractions

OBJECTIVE

This study sought to evaluate the relationship between young drivers' intention to engage in cellphone distractions while driving and their emotions towards the associated risks. First, we assessed whether the emotions of guilt, shame, and fear are associated with young drivers' intention to engage in cellphone distractions, through an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model. Second, we evaluated whether road signs that may evoke these negative emotions reduce cellphone use intentions among young drivers.

METHODS

An online survey was conducted with young drivers (18 to 25 years old) from Ontario, Canada. 403 responses were collected, of which, 99 responses were used to evaluate the first objective and all 403 responses were used to evaluate the second objective.

RESULTS

Anticipating feelings of guilt, shame, and fear negatively predicted the intention to engage in cellphone distractions, above and beyond the standard TPB constructs (i.e., attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control). When prompted with potentially emotion-evoking road signs (children crossing, my mom/dad works here), an increase in anticipated feelings of these emotions corresponded with lower intention to engage in cellphone distractions.

CONCLUSION

Countermeasures that target young driver emotions toward distracted driving risks may be effective in reducing their distraction engagement. Future studies in more controlled environments can investigate causal relationships between emotions and distracted driving among young drivers.

Personality, perceptions and behavior: A study of speeding amongst drivers in Victoria, Australia

INTRODUCTION

Road crashes present a serious public health issue. Many people are seriously or fatally injured every year in avoidable crashes. While these crashes can have multiple contributing factors, including road design and condition, vehicle design and condition, the environment and human error, the performance of illegal driving behavior, including speeding, may also play a role. The current study aimed to examine the mediating influence that four potential deterrents (perceptions towards enforcement, crash risk, social norms and disapproval, and negative personal/emotional affect) have between the Big Five personality traits (conscientiousness; extraversion; agreeableness; neuroticism; openness) and expectations to speed.

METHODS

A total of 5,108 drivers in Victoria, Australia completed an online survey in 2019. A mediated regression analysis was used to examine pathways in a conceptual model developed for the study.

RESULTS

The results showed that perceptions towards the four potential deterrents examined did mediate the relationship (either completely or partially) between personality and expectations to speed.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study suggest that if interventions to deter illegal driving behavior are to be successful, one factor that could be taken into account is the personality traits of drivers who may be at greatest risk of the performance of illegal driving behaviors.

Factors influencing drink driving intention among motorcyclists in Vietnam

OBJECTIVE

Reducing drink driving amongst motorcyclists has been deemed as a potential area for improving road traffic safety in most developing countries. However, research efforts paid on determining the underlying factors of drink driving intention amongst this road user group has been still scant. To fill this gap, this study explored the factors influencing motorcyclists' intention to drink and drive in Vietnam.

METHODS

A questionnaire survey was conducted with a sample of 451 Vietnamese motorcycle riders. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) was utilized as a frame of reference to address this issue. Apart from the TPB standard variables (i.e., attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control) and extended TPB variables which have been previously investigated in literature (i.e., descriptive norm, past behavior, and risk perception), the present research introduced four extended factors to TPB including social sanctions, physical loss, perception of drink driving enforcement, and perceived ability to influence traffic police to avoid punishment.

RESULTS

The results showed significant effects of attitudes toward drink driving, perceived behavioral control, past behavior and social sanctions on motorcyclists' drink driving intention. In addition, the data showed that both new context-based variables (i.e., "perception of drink driving enforcement" and "perceived ability to influence traffic police to avoid punishment") were significantly related to drink driving intention.

CONCLUSIONS

Various underlying factors of motorcyclists' intention to drink and drive were identified under the TPB framework. The findings provide useful information for road safety interventions in Vietnam. In particular, making enforcement activities more visible to motorcyclists and putting more effort into reducing corruption and other illegal activities in the traffic police sector could be effective measures for obtaining desirable drink driving behaviors.

Young drivers and smartphone use: The impact of legal and non-legal deterrents

INTRODUCTION

Young drivers continue to be overrepresented in road crash statistics and smartphone use has been identified as a dangerous form of driver distraction. Previous research has identified factors encouraging drivers to use their mobile phone, with few examining what deters drivers. This study examines the influence of legal and non-legal deterrents on smartphone use while driving (SWD) in a young adult sample.

METHOD

An online survey was administered to a sample of 524 Australian drivers aged 17-25 years. Measures included demographic variables, legal deterrents (certainty, severity, and swiftness), and non-legal deterrents: social loss (peers and parents), internal loss (anticipated regret) and physical loss (injury to self/others). Self-reported SWD was the outcome variable, measured separately for initiating SWD and responding SWD behaviors.

RESULTS

Responding behaviors were reported more frequently than initiating, and social, internal, and physical loss were perceived as higher for initiating versus responding behaviors. Anticipated action regret and physical loss were significant negative predictors of SWD across both modalities of communication. Anticipated inaction regret was also a significant positive predictor of initiating behaviors. Both legal deterrents and social loss were non-significant predictors for both modalities of SWD.

CONCLUSIONS

The results reinforce previous evidence showing that legal deterrence variables are not consistently effective at reducing offending behaviors. Future research should continue to explore the effect of non-legal deterrents across different modalities of SWD.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Road safety interventions aimed at young drivers should evaluate the impact of highlighting anticipated regret and potential injury to self and others associated with risky driving behaviors, such as SWD.

Differences in the perceived justice of penalties for road traffic offences between Lithuanian offenders and non-offenders

Most countries around the world use the penalties’ system in order to increase compliance with road traffic rules. However, it can be argued that the most penalties’ systems are ineffective, as drivers do not change offending behavior due to received penalty and repeatedly violate them. The perceived fairness of these penalties may be related to the level of adherence to these traffic rules. Therefore, this research explored the perceived justice of penalties for road traffic rules in a sample of Lithuanian drivers and investigated the differences between offenders and non-offenders. The sample consisted of 358 participants (63.4 percent females, aged 18–75, mean age 35.2 years) who completed an online survey. Participants were asked to report how fair they believed penalties were for road traffic rule offences in general and using a list of 23 specific penalties, including: drink driving, speeding, dangerous maneuverings, illegal overtaking, handheld phone use while driving, etc. The survey measured demographic data, as well as data regarding driving exposure, traffic offences and crashes during the last 12 months. The results revealed that in general drivers perceived the penalties as fair or adequate. The answer “adequate/fair” was chosen most frequently for almost all penalties (from 41.1 to 71.3 percent), with only the penalty for carrying a child without a car seat (€30–50) being perceived as too mild (55.5%). Gender differences were found in the evaluation of the penalty for driving under the influence of alcohol, while age and driving frequency differences were found in the perceived fairness of the penalties for not using a seatbelt, aberrant driving and using a handheld mobile phone while driving. Drivers who reported no offences during the last year, perceived the penalties for speeding as being too mild, when compared to drivers with at least one penalty over the previous year. Contrarily, offenders reported the penalties for speeding as being too severe. Offenders, who experienced driving license suspension, perceived the penalties as being too severe for drink driving and aberrant driving than offenders who received monetary fines. In summary, both Lithuanian offenders and non-offenders generally perceived the penalties for traffic rule offences as adequate and fair, but individual differences and the experience of traffic sanctions were related to the perceived justice of specific penalties.

Deterring illegal smartphone use while driving: Are perceptions of risk information associated with the impact of informal sanctions?

Advertising campaigns have used threat appeals to increase the perceptions of risk associated with dangerous driving behaviours. Building on recent research that suggests increasing the pertinence of informal sanctions (sense of guilt, fear of peer disapproval, or fear of hurting oneself and others) decreases the likelihood of illegal smartphone engagement while driving, this study aimed to determine if perceptions of risk information, that is, how effective drivers believe the information is in deterring their illegal use, is associated with perceptions of informal sanctions. An online survey of 1027 Victorians who self-reported illegal smartphone use while driving asked participants to rate the personal deterrent effectiveness of five types of risks associated with illegal smartphone use while driving. A hierarchical linear regression model explored the associations between the most effective risks and each informal sanction. Female drivers were more likely than male drivers to experience guilt, fear of social loss and fear of physical loss when using their smartphones illegally. More frequent illegal smartphone engagement while driving was associated with decreased impact of informal sanctions. Female drivers were more likely than male drivers to perceive each risk as effective. The most effective piece of information was, "Contributes to 16% of Victorian road deaths and serious injuries annually"; it was also the least known (32.7% males, 26.7% females). This message, alongside, "Increases risk of a crash comparable to those associated with driving under the influence of alcohol or cannabis" and, "A 2 s glance at your phone while driving at 50 km/h effectively means driving blind for 27 m", were associated with stronger perceptions of guilt, fear of peer disapproval, or fear of hurting oneself and others when thinking about using a smartphone illegally while driving. These results suggest tailoring and targeting these specific risk information may be effective in deterring illegal smartphone use while driving.

"Does that mean I can't use my phone to pay when I'm in the Maccas drive thru?": Younger drivers' uncertainty and attitude toward smartphone law and punishment

This study employed a mixed methods approach (a survey [n = 2,774] and focus groups [n = 16]) to understand the perceptions of younger drivers (18-25) on current smartphone laws in the Australian state of Victoria. First, by analysing quantitative data gathered from an online survey regarding smartphone laws, perceptions of punishment when breaking the law, and attitudes to both the law and fines, this study found younger drivers were less likely to understand the law around phone use while driving, even after direct or indirect experience with police. Additionally, the severity and impact of fines were perceived as more impactful and severe among younger drivers, women, and those on lower incomes, and the most common types of illegal use younger drivers engaged with were navigation, music applications, and hands-free calling, mostly facilitated through Bluetooth with their device placed out of sight. Consequently, focus groups were conducted with a subset of these younger drivers to explore these findings in more depth. It was revealed that smartphone laws were perceived to be ambiguous, at times unreasonable, and difficult to access conclusive information regarding the law or receive information throughout the Graduated Licencing Program. Additionally, of full licenced drivers breaking smartphone laws (n = 807), 61.7 percent never used a cradle. Among probationary drivers breaking the law (n = 209), 76.1 percent never used a cradle. This suggests rampant surreptitious illegal use. As such, younger drivers learning to drive are also learning methods to avoid punishment while breaking smartphone laws. This included not using a cradle and opting instead for Bluetooth connectivity or engaging in hand-held use, a choice that continued into Full Licensed driving. The severity of punishment was not common knowledge and was perceived to be incommensurate to the risks associated with certain types of use. In their opinion all of these factors reduced the legitimacy of the law. Addressing these factors with evidence-based countermeasures may increase compliance and road safety.

A unified deterrence-based model of legal and non-legal factors that influence young driver speeding behaviour

Young driver speeding behaviour remains a large contributor to road trauma worldwide. In order to provide a more-in depth understanding of how to deter young drivers from this behaviour, this study developed and tested a model of the legal and non-legal factors that influence young driver's intentional speeding behaviour (exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 km/hr). A prospective survey design was conducted to measure the impact of perceptions of legal factors (including classical deterrence and reconceptualised deterrence variables) and non-legal factors (including the variables of fear of physical loss, material loss and perceived social sanctions, as well as the perception that it is safe to engage in the behaviour without being involved in a crash) at time 1, on engagement in speeding behaviour at time 2, which occurred 3 months later. A total of 200 participants aged 17-25 years completed both surveys (Mean age = 20.44 years). Using structural equation modelling, a unique model combining classical and extended deterrence theory, as well as prominent non-legal factors was created, and the variables were able to explain 41% of the variance in speeding behaviour. A high perceived severity of the punishment, experiencing direct punishment avoidance and perceiving that it is safe to speed were significant direct predictors. Meanwhile, there were also numerous significant partially mediated relationships found for both legal and non-legal variables. These findings provide important implications for both the application of deterrence-based theories in road safety and for improving countermeasures to deter young drivers more effectively from engagement in speeding.

Analysis of drink-driving behavior: Considering the subjective and objective factors of drivers

OBJECTIVE

Drink-driving is one of the key behavioral risk factors in road traffic safety. The main purposes of this study are the identification of the influence of drivers' subjective and objective factors on drink-driving behavior and the correlation between subjective and objective factors to design targeted measures for the prevention and control of drink-driving behavior.

METHODS

To analysis the influence of the subjective and objective factors on the behavior of alcohol value simultaneously. A Bayesian structural equation model is conducted with the data collected via questionnaire issued on the Internet in China.

RESULTS

The results using the Bayesian structural equation model reveals that the subjective factors (e.g., drivers' behavior intention and perceived behavioral control) and objective factors (e.g., age, gender, and driving years of drivers) significantly affect drink-driving behaviors. Drivers' behavior intention is the strongest predictor, and perceived behavioral control also has a significant influence on drink-driving. Drivers who are male, older, lower driving years, driving a motorcycle or car and noncommercial vehicle have a higher probability in drink-driving. The results also suggest that there is a certain correlation between the driver's subjective and objective factors. For instance, male drivers have a more positive attitude toward drink-driving behaviors, drivers over thirty years old more cling to the region's alcohol culture and feel less guilty about drink-driving than youngsters, and truck or bus drivers perceived more disapproval of drink-driving behavior from their significant others.

CONCLUSIONS

A more nuanced understanding of the influence of drivers to drink-driving behavior can be found in these results. These results about the influence mechanism of subjective and objective factors on drink-driving behavior of this study have implications for governments and other interested bodies for better targeting and delivery of public education campaigns and interventions.

Does seeing it make a difference? The self-reported deterrent impact of random breath testing

INTRODUCTION

Random Breath Testing (RBT) remains a primary method to both deter and apprehend drink drivers, yet a large proportion of road fatalities continue to be caused by the offense. Outstanding questions remain regarding how much exposure to RBT operations is needed to influence deterrence-based perceptions and subsequent offending.

METHOD

Given this, licensed motorists (N = 961) in Queensland were recruited to complete a questionnaire either in the community (N = 741) or on the side of the road after just being breath tested (N = 243). Survey items measured different types of exposure to RBT operations (e.g., "seen" vs. "being tested") and subsequent perceptions of apprehension as well as self-reported drink driving behaviors.

RESULTS

The key findings that emerged were: motorists were regularly exposed to RBT operations (both viewing and being tested), such exposure was not significantly correlated with perceptions of apprehension certainty, and a sizable proportion reported engaging in drink driving behaviors (e.g., approx. 25%), although roadside participants naturally reported a lower percentage of offending behaviors. Importantly, it was revealed that current "observations" of RBT was sufficient, but not actual levels of active testing (which needed to be doubled). Nevertheless, higher levels of exposure to RBT operations was found to be predictive of a lack of intention to drink and drive again in the future.

CONCLUSIONS

This paper suggests that mere exposure to enforcement may not create the intended rule compliance, and that the frequency of exposure is also essential for the roadside.

Traffic campaigns and overconfidence: An experimental approach

We use a controlled experiment to analyze the impact of watching different types of educational traffic campaign videos on overconfidence of undergraduate university students in Brazil. The videos have the same underlying traffic educational content but differ in the form of exhibition. We find that videos with shocking content (Australian school) are more effective in reducing drivers' overconfidence, followed by those with punitive content (American school). We do not find empirical evidence that videos with technical content (European school) change overconfidence. Since several works point to a strong association between overconfidence and road safety, our study can support the conduit of driving safety measures by identifying efficient ways of reducing drivers' overconfidence. Finally, this paper also introduces how to use machine learning techniques to mitigate the usual subjectivity in the design of the econometric specification that is commonly faced in many researches in experimental economics.

Understanding the deterrent impact formal and informal sanctions have on illegal smartphone use while driving

The illegal use of a smartphone while driving increases the risk of crashes. As such, road authorities rely on countermeasures to reduce illegal smartphone use. Deterrence-based methods dominate road safety, however, perceptions and impact of formal (legal) and informal (non-legal) methods to deter illegal smartphone use in Australia have not yet been explored. The current study reports on a survey of 2774 drivers (47.0 % males) that own and regularly use a smartphone. The survey analysed the self-reported frequency of illegal smartphone use while driving, perceptions of formal and informal deterrence mechanisms, differences between perceived and informed deterrence, and deterrent predictors of illegal use. The findings revealed that illegal smartphone use is increasing in Victoria, Australia. Drivers that break the law perceive deterrent mechanisms significantly different from drivers that abide by the law, however, both groups view the prospect of hurting oneself as most impactful. Additionally, drivers tend to underestimate the consequences of illegal use, yet overestimate the certainty of apprehension. A binary logistic regression analysis revealed that only age, gender and informal sanctions such as social loss (stigma/peer disapproval), internal loss (shame/guilt/embarrassment), and physical loss (injury/property damage) were significant predictors of illegal use. None of the formal mechanisms were significant. Based on these findings, road safety interventions and future research should consider exploring the psychological characteristics of young people's perceptions of informal sanctions such as social loss (shame/embarrassment) and internal loss (guilt).

Effectiveness of implementing the criminal administrative punishment law of drunk driving in China: An interrupted time series analysis, 2004-2017

In 2011, a more severe drunk driving law was implemented in China, which criminalized driving under the influence of alcohol for the first time and increased penalties for drunk driving. The present study aimed to assess effectiveness of the drunk driving law in China in reducing traffic crashes, injuries, and mortality. Data used in this study was obtained from the Traffic Management Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China. An interrupted time series analysis was conducted to analyze annual data from 2004 to 2017, including the number of road traffic crashes, deaths, and injuries caused by drunk driving in China. The average annual incidences of crashes, mortality, and injuries have decreased after the promulgation of drunk driving law in 2011. In the post-intervention period, the increased slope for crashes, mortality and injury rates were, respectively, -0.140 to -0.006, -0.052 to -0.005 and -0.150 to -0.008, indicating a weaker downward trend of dependent variables. The more stringent drunk driving law is not as effective as expected. Drunk driving is still a severe traffic safety problem to be addressed in China. Both legislation and other prevention programs should be adopted to reduce road traffic injuries caused by drunk driving in China.

Past behaviours and future intentions: An examination of perceptual deterrence and alcohol consumption upon a range of drink driving events

INTRODUCTION

The threat of application of legal sanctions remains the prominent approach to reduce the prevalence of drink driving in a vast array of motoring jurisdictions. However, ongoing questions remain regarding: (a) the extent that such mechanisms impact upon offending behaviours, (b) the deleterious effect alcohol consumption has on decisions to drink and drive and (c) how best to operationalise (and measure) the concept of drink driving to enhance the accurate measurement of the dependent variable.

METHOD

This paper reports on an examination of 773 Queensland motorists' (across nine local government areas) perceptions of both legal and non-legal drink driving sanctions (as well as alcohol consumption) in order to gauge the deterrent impact upon a range of measures of drink driving: the driver thinking they are over the limit, the driver knowing they are over the limit, attempts to evade random breath testing, and intentions to re-offend. The sample completed an online or paper version of the questionnaire.

RESULTS

The majority of participants reported "never" engaging in "possible" (74.5 %) or "acknowledged" (83.4 %) drink driving events, although a considerable proportion of the sample reported engaging in "possible" (25.5 %) or "acknowledged" (16.6 %) drink driving and attempting to evade RBT (18 %) events, as well as possible intentions to drink and drive in the future (22 %). Males were more likely to report such events. Perceptions of both legal sanctions (certainty, severity and swiftness) as well as non-legal sanctions (fear of social, internal or physical harm) were relatively high and consistent with previous research. Interestingly, non-legal sanctions were reported as stronger deterrents than legal sanctions. However, multivariate analysis revealed that legal deterrents had limited utility predicting offending behaviours, but rather, demographic characteristics (e.g., younger motorists, males) as well as risky drinking behaviour were better predictors. In regards to intentions to offend, a past conviction for drink driving was also a predictor of re-offending.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

These results highlight the ongoing challenges of addressing the problem of drink driving and that some motorists: (a) have entrenched behaviour and/or (b) make the decision to drink and drive before they are under the influence of alcohol.

Gaze entropy measures detect alcohol-induced driver impairment

Driving under the influence of alcohol is an ongoing cause of road traffic accidents. The biphasic nature of alcohol effects on subjective experience appears to contribute to the prevalence of drink-driving, as people perceive the declining phase of the BAC curve as recovery from intoxication and are more willing to drive despite significant impairments in objectively measured functions. The present study investigates whether alcohol-induced changes in gaze behaviour can be detected during engagement in a simulated driving task. In a repeated-measures and placebo-controlled design, this study examines the biphasic influence of moderate alcohol intake (0.6 g/kg) on measures of gaze behaviour and simulated driving performance. Twenty-two healthy young adults completed three driving sessions (baseline, ascending and descending) under two conditions (placebo, alcohol) while their eye movements were simultaneously recorded. The results revealed that gaze behaviour as measured by gaze transition entropy (GTE) and stationary gaze entropy (SGE) and driving performance measured by the standard deviation of lateral position (SDLP) of the vehicle, were significantly affected by alcohol across the ascending and descending sessions. The alcohol-induced reduction in GTE with an increase in SGE is discussed as alcohol's impact on top-down modulation of gaze resulting in more dispersed and erratic pattern of visual scanning. The observed changes in gaze behaviour also mediated the influence of alcohol upon driving performance. These results have significant implications for the development of driver monitoring systems that can detect alcohol-induced impairment.

"I Snapchat and Drive!" A mixed methods approach examining snapchat use while driving and deterrent perceptions among young adults

This research utilised a qualitative and quantitative study to examine a sample of young drivers' perceptions of deterrent forces, both legal and non-legal, for the behaviour of phone use while driving. First, focus groups were conducted with 60 drivers between the ages of 17 and 25 years who resided in Queensland, Australia. This qualitative study utilised an inductive approach to elicit participants' perceptions without omitting important ideas. Legal sanctions were associated with low perceptions of enforcement certainty. Meanwhile, the only non-legal sanction to emerge was the concept of "safety"; many participants were deterred from using their phone while driving for fear of injury or death to themselves or others. The types of social media most likely to be engaged in were explored and sending videos or photos via the application Snapchat emerged as the most common social media application used among the sample. Consequently, the subsequent quantitative study focused on deterrent forces associated with Snapchat use while driving. A survey was utilised with a separate sample of young drivers aged 17-25 years (n = 503). The impact of the threat of legal sanctions on Snapchat use while driving was examined through classical deterrence theory and Stafford and Warr's (1993) reconceptualised deterrence theory. The non-legal factor of perceived safety was also included in the quantitative study. None of the classical deterrence variables (e.g., certainty, severity and swiftness) reached significance while all the reconceptualised deterrence variables (e.g., direct and indirect punishment and punishment avoidance), as well as perceived safety, were significant predictors of Snapchat use while driving. It is suggested that perceptions of certainty of apprehension need to be increased for phone use while driving. The findings show the current impact of deterrent initiatives for phone use while driving as well as provide the first examination of deterrents for the specific mobile phone behaviour of Snapchat use while driving.

Driving while impaired by alcohol: An analysis of drink-drivers involved in UK collisions

Objective: Drink-driving represents a critical issue on international organizations' agendas as one of the key behavioral risk factors in road traffic safety, alongside speed and nonuse of motorcycle helmets, seat belts, and child restraints. Changing road user behaviors regarding these 5 factors is a critical component in reducing road traffic injuries and casualties. The objective of this study is the identification of drivers who are more likely to contribute to crashes in the UK while impaired by alcohol to design targeted drink drive compliance campaigns. Method: To profile drivers with the factor "impaired by alcohol" assigned in collisions, an extensive data set is used, including all reported injury collisions between 2011 and 2015 in the UK (police records), merged with the Experian Mosaic Database. A multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression is conducted, utilizing the hierarchical nature of the data (drivers within Mosaic types). Results: Using multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analysis, the finding is that some driver profiles are more likely to contribute to crashes and are assigned the contributory factor "impaired by alcohol." Drink-related crashes are more common in some circumstances or for some crash-involved driver groups than others. For instance, alcohol-related crashes are more likely to occur on single carriageways and among males and 25- to 35-year-olds. Drink-drive-related crashes are found to be strongly associated with dark lighting conditions and, more specifically, with late night hours (the interval between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. accounts for a third of the drink-drive-related collisions). Using the Experian Mosaic Database which divides the UK population into 66 types based on demographic, lifestyle, and behavior characteristics, the finding is that, among crash-involved drivers, some Mosaic types are significantly more likely (e.g., pocket pensions, dependent greys, streetwise singles) and others are significantly less likely (e.g., crowded kaleidoscope, cultural comfort, penthouse chic) to contribute to a drink-related crash. Conclusions: The outcome is a more nuanced understanding of drivers contributing to drink-related crashes in the UK. The study concludes by discussing the implications for governments and other interested bodies for better targeting and delivery of public education campaigns and interventions.

Graduated driver licensing and differential deterrence: The effect of license type on intentions to violate road rules

In keeping with the differential deterrence theory, this article assesses the moderating effect of license type on the relationship between social control and intention to violate road rules. More precisely, the article has two objectives: (1) to assess the effect of license type on intentions to infringe road rules; and (2) to pinpoint mechanisms of social control affecting intentions to violate road rules based on one's type of driver license (a restricted license or a full license). This effect is examined among a sample of 392 young drivers in the province of Quebec, Canada. Drivers taking part in the Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) program have limited demerit points and there is zero tolerance for drinking-and-driving. Propensity score matching techniques were used to assess the effect of the license type on intentions to violate road rules and on various mechanisms of social control. Regression analyses were then conducted to estimate the moderating effect of license type. Average treatment effects from propensity score matching analyses indicate that respondents with a restricted license have lower levels of intention to infringe road rules. While moral commitment and, to a lesser extent, the perceived risk of arrest are both negatively associated with intentions to violate road rules, the license type moderates the relationship between delinquent peers and intentions to violate road rules. The effect of delinquent peers is reduced among respondents with a restricted driver license. Finally, a diminished capability to resist peer pressure could explain the increased crash risk in months following full licensing.