Elsevier

Annals of Epidemiology

Volume 21, Issue 9, September 2011, Pages 641-647
Annals of Epidemiology

Are Current Law Enforcement Strategies Associated with a Lower Risk of Repeat Speeding Citations and Crash Involvement? A Longitudinal Study of Speeding Maryland Drivers

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2011.03.014Get rights and content

Purpose

To determine whether traffic court appearances and different court verdicts were associated with risk of subsequent speeding citations and crashes.

Methods

A cohort of 29,754 Maryland drivers ticketed for speeding who either went to court or paid fines by mail in May/June 2003 was followed for 3 years. Drivers appearing in court were categorized by verdicts: 1) not guilty, 2) suspension of prosecution/no prosecution (STET/NP), 3) case dismissed, 4) probation before judgment (PBJ) and fines, or 5) fines and demerit points. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (AHR).

Results

Court appearances were associated with lower risk of subsequent speeding citations (AHR = 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.88–0.96), but higher risk of crashes (AHR = 1.25; 95% CI, 1.16–1.35). PBJ was associated with significantly lower repeat speeding tickets (AHR = 0.83; 95% CI, 0.75–0.91) and a non-significant decrease in crashes (AHR = 0.87; 95% CI, 0.75–1.02). Both repeat speeding tickets and subsequent crashes were significantly lower in the STET/NP group.

Conclusions

PBJ and STET/NP may reduce speeding and crashes, but neither verdict eliminated excess crash risk among drivers who choose court appearances. Randomized, controlled evaluations of speeding countermeasures are needed to inform traffic safety policies.

Introduction

Speeding threatens public health worldwide 1, 2, 3 by increasing both motor vehicle crash risk and likelihood of crash mortality and morbidity 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. In the United States, speeding contributes to one third of fatal crashes, an estimated 11,674 deaths in 2008 (20). A primary countermeasure for speeding is enforcing speed limits by punishing lawbreakers. License suspension/revocation significantly reduced subsequent traffic violations and crashes (21) and traffic convictions, especially speeding convictions that included points, reduced involvement in fatal crashes for several months after the conviction (22). Despite these measures, speeding remains widespread 23, 24, 25; active police enforcement reduces speeding around the targeted area for a limited period after it ends 26, 27. More severe penalties were not associated with fewer subsequent speeding citations (28).

It is unclear how to maximize the effectiveness of speeding enforcement. Law enforcement can be understood as a behavior modification system that includes negative feedback for undesirable behavior and attempts to modify individual attitudes. Individual perceptions, interpersonal influences, and community settings all affect behavior (29).

In Maryland, drivers who receive speeding tickets can elect to pay fines by mail or appear in traffic court, where cases can be upheld, dismissed, or changed to less severe charges and penalties. In traffic court, communications between judges and ticketed drivers are analogous to tailored individual health communication between physicians and patients (30). Traffic court proceedings, coupled with other negative consequences of speeding citations, may provide a stronger deterrent to speeding violations than paying fines by mail. Relatively little is known about the impact of traffic court appearance and its differing verdicts on road safety among speeding drivers. In this study, we investigated the associations of court appearance and the different verdicts rendered for a speeding ticket with both subsequent speeding citations and police-reported crashes by following a cohort of licensed Maryland drivers ticketed for speeding from 2003 to 2006.

Section snippets

Data Sources

We used Maryland driver licensure data from the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, traffic citation and court disposition data from Maryland District Court, and crash data from the Maryland Automated Accident Reporting System, and merged them using driver license numbers.

Study Sample and Design

We identified 30,603 individuals with a valid Maryland non-commercial driver license who settled a speeding citation in May/June 2003, and divided them into 2 groups: Those who chose court appearances (54%; n = 16,645) and

Driver Characteristics: Court Appearances and Verdicts

Among drivers who dealt with a speeding citation in May/June 2003, >54% went to court. Compared with drivers who paid fines by mail, they were more likely to be <25 years old, African American, and to have been cited for traveling >20 mph above the speed limit (Table 1). Fewer drivers who went to court lived in zip codes with household incomes >$70,000. In addition, a greater proportion of drivers who went to court had a history of speeding, alcohol-related violations, and crashes.

Once in

Discussion

Our study is among the first to address court verdicts and associated outcomes among speeding drivers. Traffic courts exist in many jurisdictions in the United States, but their impact on traffic safety is unclear. We found that, compared with those who paid fines by mail, drivers who went to court to settle a speeding citation had a significantly higher risk of subsequent crash involvement despite having a significantly lower risk for a repeat speeding citation after adjustment for other

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