Patterns of Traffic Offenses from Adolescent Licensure into Early Young Adulthood

Abstract

Purpose-This article examines adolescent psychosocial and problem behavior characteristics as predictors of traffic offenses from licensure to early young adulthood.Methods-Data for this study were from a school-based sample that was surveyed in 10th and 12th grades, and again in early young adulthood. In addition, state driver history records were obtained for each participant in the study and provided a complete traffic offense history.Results-Models adjusted for driving exposure showed varying patterns of prediction for men and women across three types of ticketed moving violations (offenses): minor offenses, serious offenses, and alcohol offenses. Although which predictors were significant varied across gender and type of offense, results suggested that more positive psychosocial adjustment predicted lower numbers, greater decreases, and a lower likelihood of increases in offenses from licensure through the early 20s.Conclusions-Based on this research, implications for intervention include providing parents with the tools and knowledge needed to effectively supervise their teens' driving during the first years of licensure. Also potentially important for their broad positive effects on problem behaviors, including problem driving, are programs that strengthen adolescents' bonds to conventional social institutions and increase their attachment to the people who represent those institutions. Future research should examine the longitudinal sequencing of associations among psychosocial and problem behavior variables, including problem driving. © 2006 Society for Adolescent Medicine. All rights reserved. KeywordsTeen drivers; Traffic offenses; Gender differences; High-risk driving; Problem behavior; Problem driving Drivers aged 15-20 years have higher rates of motor vehicle crashes (crashes) than adults, and crashes are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in this age group. In 2003, 15-20-year-olds accounted for 6.8% (12.5 million) of all drivers in the United States, but were drivers in 18% of all police-reported crashes and 14% of all fatal crashes, resulting in 3657 deaths and 308,000 non-fatal injuries [1]. A greater understanding of factors contributing to crashes is essential to increased driving safety among teens; however, the relative infrequency of crashes makes them difficult to study, and the information obtained from studying crashes, although important, does not directly address events and behaviors that precede and contribute to crashes. Many of these events and behaviors are ticketable traffic offenses. Although recorded offenses are a sub-sample of all traffic offenses committed, official traffic offenses are one of Relatively few longitudinal studies have examined offense patterns and their developmental precursors. Some evidence exists of a longitudinal association between problem behaviors and problem driving practices [4]. Using a developmental theoretical perspective, this study identified psychosocial and problem behavior predictors of offenses that occurred between licensu...

Crash Types: Markers of Increased Risk of Alcohol-Involved Crashes Among Teen Drivers

“…Teen drivers' intentions to violate driving rules are less when parental supervision is greater (Desrichard et al, 2007). Also, greater parental monitoring during adolescence has been shown to predict safer young adult driving outcomes, including less high-risk driving behavior and fewer traffi c offenses and crashes (Bingham and Shope, 2004a,b;Bingham et al, 2005Bingham et al, , 2006. The addition of preventing drinking and driving as one of the specifi c objectives of parent-directed interventions may hold promise as a means of reducing teen crash risk, not only in the early stages of driving but also potentially for years to come Williams et al, 2006).…”

Drinking and Parenting Practices as Predictors of Impaired Driving Behaviors Among U.S. Adolescents

“…However, the analyses did not control for the teenager's substance use. Bingham et al (2006) found that high parental monitoring during high school was protective against alcohol-related offenses at ages 20-24 for men, but not women, and not at age 19. These fi ndings suggest that parenting practices, such as parental monitoring, might be associated with lower rates of DWI.…”

“…These fi ndings suggest that parenting practices, such as parental monitoring, might be associated with lower rates of DWI. Although parents could exert direct effects on teenage DWI and RWI, as purported with a teenage-to-young-adult cohort (Bingham et al, 2006), much of their effect is likely to be indirect through their concerns and efforts to discourage their teenage children from drinking or other substance use. In a regional administration of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, parental support was related to DWI but not RWI, and effects were reduced to nonsignifi cance after accounting for the teenager's substance use behaviors (Sabel et al, 2004).…”

Psychosocial function of driving as predictor of risk-taking behaviour

“…Studies using the problem behaviour approach have shown that problem behaviour in traffic is highly related to other problem behaviours such as cigarette smoking, alcohol misuse, marijuana use, social maladjustment and poor school performance (Bingham et al, 2006;Bingham and Shope, 2004a, b). These findings are in accordance with the Problem Behaviour Theory, which distinguishes between behaviour that is approved of by the general society and problem behaviour that is condemned.…”