Study of recidivism rates among drivers administratively sanctioned by the New Jersey motor vehicle commission : final report, December 2009.

Details

• Creators:
  Carnegie, Jon A. ; Strawderman, William Edward ; Li, Wei
• Corporate Creators:
  Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center
• Corporate Contributors:
  New Jersey. Department of Transportation. Bureau of Research ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Confiscation Driver Licenses Driver Licensing Drivers' Licenses--Government Policy--New Jersey Moving Violations Recidivism Recidivists--New Jersey. Revocation Suspensions Traffic Violations Traffic Violations--New Jersey

  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA NJ-2009-019
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  New Jersey
• Edition:
  Final report.
• Corporate Publisher:
  New Jersey. Dept. of Transportation
• Abstract:
  The purpose of this study was to examine the current state of practice related to driver improvement countermeasures
  
  used in the United States and to assess the effectiveness of New Jersey’s negligent driver interventions. As part of the
  
  study, the research team conducted a national literature review and a survey of motor vehicle agency policies in other
  
  states to document the current state of practice related to driver improvement programs and the current state of
  
  knowledge regarding the effectiveness of specific countermeasures. In addition, the research team obtained and
  
  analyzed an extensive longitudinal database of driver history records to examine the effectiveness of various
  
  countermeasures used in New Jersey to address negligent driver behavior relative to violation and crash recidivism.
  
  This study provides important evidence that New Jersey’s program of negligent driver countermeasures is effective at
  
  reducing violation and crash recidivism among most negligent driver subgroups in the two-year period after Motor
  
  Vehicle Commission (MVC) intervention. Of the countermeasures used in New Jersey, the combination of license
  
  suspension with one-year probation resulted in the greatest overall reduction in both mean violation and crash rates.
  
  New Jersey’s driver re-education classes, which are accompanied by a three-point credit against accumulated demerit
  
  points and one-year probation, resulted in the lowest mean violation rate reduction. Point advisory notices, which for
  
  experienced drivers are accompanied by a concurrent assessment of negligent driver fees (MVC “insurance
  
  surcharges”), appear to be an effective early intervention, producing substantial reductions in both violation and crash
  
  recidivism among all driver subgroups except teen drivers who are not assessed negligent driver fees at the time of
  
  notice issuance.
  
  Several policy recommendations can be derived from this research. First, with regard to teen drivers, consideration
  
  should be given to whether or not a “zero-tolerance” policy for motor vehicle violations and at-fault crashes should be
  
  applied to teen drivers. It may be appropriate to impose license suspension as an earlier intervention if the reforms
  
  already enacted do not result in meaningful change in teen driver safety outcomes. Second, MVC should consider
  
  streamlining the suspension program to make it more straightforward and easier to administer. Thirdly, consideration
  
  should be given to reviewing and reforming, New Jersey’s driver monitoring system and/or plea bargaining practices to
  
  ensure that repeat traffic offenders are not able to use zero-point plea bargaining to avoid corrective actions that
  
  improve safety outcomes.
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:ca0b6242364d20bbfa75db4b1173f342d82b3d35ca2acde77cae77d1ae2798fa
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/17678/dot_17678_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 293.68 KB ]