Citation

Gebers MA. J. Saf. Res. 2010; 41(4): 323-330.

Affiliation

Department of Motor Vehicles Research and Development Branch 2570 24th Street, MS: H126 Sacramento, CA 95818, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, U.S. National Safety Council, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsr.2010.03.003

PMID

20846548

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: This study evaluated California's traffic violator school (TVS) citation dismissal policy. METHOD: This study identified and compared two large samples of drivers either completing a TVS (N=210,015) or convicted of a traffic citation (N=168,563). RESULTS: Prior to adjudication, the TVS group had characteristics (e.g., lower prior conviction rate and smaller proportion of males) that were predictive of a lower subsequent crash risk. However, the TVS group exhibited significantly more crashes than did the convicted group in the subsequent one-year period. The difference (4.83%) increased to 10% after adjusting for the more favorable characteristics of the TVS group. The TVS group also had a higher adjusted subsequent crash rate at each prior driver record entry level, reflecting a loss in the general and specific deterrence of the non-conviction masked status of TVS dismissed citations. It was reported that the TVS dismissal policy results in approximately 12,300 additional crashes annually with economic costs of approximately $398,000,000. CONCLUSIONS: The avoidance of licensing actions resulting from the dismissal policy assists in explaining why the driving public is exposed to an increased crash risk. A number of recommendations are offered to reduce the negative traffic safety impact of the TVS citation dismissal policy.

Language: en