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:
  • Recidivism
  • Driver licensing
  • Driver licenses
  • Confiscation
  • Revocation
  • Suspensions
  • Traffic violations
  • Moving violations
  • Drivers' licenses--Government policy--New Jersey
  • 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.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/17678/dot_17678_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 293.68 KB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:ca0b6242364d20bbfa75db4b1173f342d82b3d35ca2acde77cae77d1ae2798fa