Are traffic violators criminals? Searching for answers in the experiences of European countries

TLDR: In this article, the authors examined the records of 28 current member states of the European Union over the 1999-2010 period and found that road traffic fatality rates are higher in countries where the behavior of the inhabitants is more aggressive, while the rates are lower in countries with more severe penal systems.

About: This article is published in Transport Policy.The article was published on 2015-02-01 and is currently open access. It has received 27 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: European union & Prima facie.

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TABLE 2. Variance decomposition of continuous variables

TABLE 1. Variables used in the empirical analysis.

TABLE 3. Results of estimates (Country fixed effects with an AR-1 disturbance)

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What are the contributions in "“are traffic violators criminals? searching for answers in experiences of european countries”" ?

In this paper, the authors examined the relationship between criminal behavior and road traffic accidents in 28 member states of the European Union. 

Q2. What are the factors that seem to be effective in reducing traffic fatality rates?

Concerning road safety policies, those related to the maximum blood alcohol concentration and speed limits seem to be effective in reducing traffic fatality. 

Q3. What is the main cause of death and serious morbidity in the EU?

Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a major cause of mortality and serious morbidity with high economic costs in the European Union (EU) (Castillo-Manzano et al., 2014; Orsi et al., 2012). 

Q4. What is the effect of tougher national legislation on driving attitudes?

Tougher national legislation seems to send a signal to the population in general and drivers in particular, about the visibility of stricter TLE and heavier sanctions and penalties schemes, creating a deterrence effect on driving attitudes. 

Q5. What are the main roles of traffic law enforcement and legal systems?

The roles of both traffic law enforcement (TLE) and legal systems have been highlighted as deterrence and punitive measures to improve compliance with traffic rules (see the comprehensive international overviews provided by Brace et al., 2009 and Zaal, 1994, respectively). 

Q6. What is the effect of more traffic on the roads?

More traffic on the roads implies higher exposure to accidents but this effect may be partially compensated by lower speeds (and therefore less severe accidents) due to congestion. 

Q7. What is the coefficient associated with the variable for robberies?

In addition to this, the coefficient associated with the variable for life imprisonment is negative and statistically significant, as expected. 

Q8. What is the effect of the variables on the road traffic fatality rates?

higher numbers of drug trafficking crimes and motor vehicle thefts lead to higher road traffic fatality rates in the country. 

Q9. What are the main variables that are used in studies of road traffic safety?

With respect to control factors, the authors include variables that are typically used in studies of road traffic safety and that are related to the country’s economic conditions. 

Q10. What is the effect of points system on traffic fatality rates?

The application of any points system to driving licenses may lead to lower traffic fatality rates although the long-term effect of this policy has been questioned (see Castillo-Manzano & Castro-Nuño, 2012, for an international meta-analysis of the effects of such policies). 

Q11. What are the variables that control for the common trend in all the countries in the dataset?

i are country fixed effects that control for omitted time-invariant country-specific variables, t are year dummies that control for the common trend in all the countries in the dataset and it is a mean-zero random error. 

Q12. What is the effect of the dummy variable on road safety?

Following previous studies on road safety (Albalate, 2008; Castillo-Manzano & Castro-Nuño, 2012; Castillo-Manzano et al., 2013, 2014; Deshapriya & Iwase, 1996; Eisenberg, 2003), the authors consider the influence of preventive policies such as legal blood alcohol limits, and include a dummy variable that takes a value of one for countries and periods where the maximum blood alcohol concentration allowed is lower than 0.5 g/L.