Premium
Patterns of convictions and traffic accident involvement
Author(s) -
MERCER G. WILLIAM,
JEFFERY WAYNE K.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
criminal behaviour and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1471-2857
pISSN - 0957-9664
DOI - 10.1002/cbm.1995.5.4.463
Subject(s) - conviction , accident (philosophy) , traffic accident , sample (material) , driving under the influence , psychology , forensic engineering , poison control , injury prevention , transport engineering , environmental health , medicine , engineering , chemistry , philosophy , epistemology , chromatography , political science , law
From a random sample of 9273 driver records two correlated but distinct traffic offence conviction patterns emerged: reckless driving (RD) and drinking driving (DD). These factors both related positively to traffic accident severity, but loaded differently from each other on accident configuration factors. In a 10‐factor solution examining traffic accident patterns in 19 121 casualty‐producing accidents, RD and DD both loaded on a ‘recidivist’ accident factor, while DD only loaded on a ‘drinking driving’ factor. Similarly, in a 7‐factor solution examining the patterns in 227 fatal traffic accidents, RD and DD loaded on a ‘reciclivist’ factor while DD loaded on a ‘male single vehicle’ accident pattern factor. In turn, toxicological analyses showed that the ‘recidivist’ factor was associated with the use of alcohol and cannabis, while the ‘male single vehicle’ factor was associated with alcohol use only. The ‘out of control’ driver who will have an accident, impaired or not, is discussed, as distinct from the classic impaired driver.