Prior violation records of 1447 drivers involved in fatal crashes

Abstract

Driving records were examined for 1447 drivers involved in fatal crashes during a two-year period. The fatal crash involvement rate per 100,000 drivers was found to be higher in approximate proportion to the number of convictions for violations in three years prior to the fatal crash. However, the majority of drivers involved in fatal crashes had no convictions for violations in the prior three years. Drivers with extremely deviant driving records, including so-called “habitual offenders,” were only a small proportion of drivers involved in fatal crashes and did not have involvement rates as high as other groups such as drivers under 20 years of age with only a few convictions. It was shown that conviction records and descriptives—age, sex, race—in motor vehicle administration files can be used to identify groups with greater probability of involvement in fatal crashes. It is not possible, however, to identify a small group in the population that accounts for more than a small proportion of all fatal crashes.