Factors that Dissuade Young Drivers from Committing Traffic Violations

Abstract

During a period of overinvolvement of young drivers in road accidents and an increasing number of police checks, this study was done to identify factors dissuading individuals from committing traffic violations in this segment of the population. The model used examines the perceptions of accident risk and risk of getting a ticket. A special questionnaire was designed to investigate the following subscales: Driving Offences Declared, Perceived Danger, Perceived Police Check, and Perceived Impunity. The sample tested included 514 young adults (324 men, 187 women). Analysis showed committing traffic violations was inhibited mainly by fear of danger. Sex and mileage covered influenced violations: women had a lower Driving Offences Declared score than men, and high-mileage drivers declared committing more violations than low-mileage drivers. Further, those who had ever been ticketed and who had been involved in an accident had higher scores for Driving Offences Declared.

Measurement of Readiness to Reduce Driving Speed: A Pilot Study

“…scenario, participants in the Action stage reported driving at significantly slower speeds compared to participants in the Contemplation stage (F 2,109 = 4.45, p = .014). As speeding and speed-related crashes are often associated with younger age (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2009;Tardif, 2009) and high-mileage drivers have been found to report more violations than low-mileage drivers (Félonneau, Aigrot, & Causse, 2009), these analyses were repeated with age and kilometers driven in the past year entered as covariates, with no significant impact on either the results or the inferences drawn from them.…”