Do Speeding Tickets Deter Drivers From Speeding?
January 30th, 2008 Posted in Speed Limits, Traffic Tickets
The NMA has long held that drivers will travel at a speed that is reasonable to them regardless of the speed limit. With arbitrarily low speed limits in place across much of the country, it’s no surprise that the majority of drivers choose to travel above the speed limit.
The response of government has always been to hand out speeding tickets with heavy financial penalties to deter this behavior.
However, anecdotal evidence has shown that this has had little effect on driver behavior and has only padded the budgets of local and state government. Now more concrete evidence is available as well.
There was a study done recently that confirms the fact that speeding tickets are an ineffective way to deter speeding. This study was published in the March 2007 issue of Traffic Injury Prevention.
Here’s a quick summary of the study:
Title:
Do Speeding Tickets Reduce the Likelihood of Receiving Subsequent Speeding Tickets?Authors:
Saranath Lawpoolsri a; Jingyi Li a; Elisa R. Braver abAffiliations:
a Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
b National Study Center for Trauma and EMS, Baltimore, Maryland, USAStudy Objective:
Speeding tickets are the most commonly used tool to deter speeders, yet little is known about how speeding citations affect individual drivers’ behavior over time.This study examined the effects of being cited for speeding and types of legal consequences on drivers’ subsequent speeding citations, which are an indicator of speeding behavior.
Conclusion:
Drivers who receive speeding citations are at increased risk of receiving subsequent speeding citations, suggesting that speeding citations have limited effects on deterrence in the context of the current traffic enforcement system.
The full study goes into greater detail, including how different types of penalties can affect results. If you’re interested, you can read it here.
Image Credit: Taylor & Francis Group
Other Related Articles
- Traffic Tickets Are Big Business
- No More Fines: A Traffic Safety Revolution
- The 10 Biggest Injustices Against Motorists In October
- How Should Speed Limits Be Set?
- What Should Cities Do If 90% Of Drivers Exceed The Speed Limit?
To change the picture next to your comments, sign up at Gravatar.com. Each picture is associated with a particular email address. (This is a third-party service not affiliated with NMA.)
I can say for sure that tickets deter me from speeding. I’ve only had 1 in my life but it was 250.00 (80 in a 65) and I’ve been much more cautious since then. I don’t doubt that in some areas the local law is writing tickets as a way of generating revenue to the point of extortion but I just don’t believe that is the case in most communities. If you all would just slow down a little you probably wouldn’t have a problem. Better yet…try riding a bike!
These one-size-fits-all speed limits don’t cut it. The fact that LEO’s treat those arbitrarily generated numbers on a sign as absolutes, usually set too low, not set by scientific methods is reason enough for drivers to travel above the posted limit. Set the limit scientifically for efficient and safe travel and you’ll see a lot less speeding AND a safer driving environment. Speeding is usually a sign that drivers have no confidence in the speed limit. It’s time to change these Model T, gravel road speed limits. It seems this country has to micromanage every aspect of our lives including the speeds we drive.
As a municipality you can’t make money off the driving public unless you set speed limits artificially low hence the incentive to do so. In a perfect world revenue wouldn’t be a factor at all and neither would speeding. Further, we would see a lot less abusive traffic control on the part of law enforcement. We would start seeing enforcement of traffic laws that ACTUALLY affect traffic accidents instead of the artificial notion about enforcement of speed laws. It’s unfortunate that drivers don’t protest low speed limits instead of breaking them. If it’s wrong for drivers to speed then it’s ALSO WRONG for drivers to not have any input into decision making when it comes to setting speed limits!! Why is it that there’s a complete disproportionate percentage of speeding tickets handed out when compared to the actual accident percentage caused by speeding? I think we both know the answer to that question and it has nothing to do with accidents.
I am in my 60’s. I remember a day when speeding tickets had to do with your safety. Then, just like televangelists,they saw how much money began coming in. That is when they began posting unrealistic speed limits and hid police behind objects such as bill boards, nooks and crannies. It all has to do with economics now. I know, because my nephew is a police officer in the 13th largest city in the U.S.and my neighbor is a police officer in a small suburb of that large city. They both say that money is the one and only thing the departments are interested in anymore. And, YES, there are monthly quotas to be met. It is what it is.
As one who drives close to 100k a year in a car, I have been the recipient of many speeding tickets over the past 40 years of driving. I have not been deterred by tickets and agree with the theories presented. However, I have been deterred by a recent rollover on the interstate not because I was speeding, but, because of “road-rage”. Without going into full details, I was forced to make a quick left right maneuver into another lane, my “new” left tires blew causing the SUV to flip and landed on the top skidding down the middle of a 6 lane interstate. Of course the “rager” did not stop even though I tagged her car at the driver’s door. That has slowed me down considerable, and as a result, I find that I am not as good of a driver because I find myself with a false since of security, thereby, not paying as close attention as I would if I were driving faster. By the way, I got the ticket even though the other person ran off, many NCarolina HP are twits. He didn’t show up in court, but, still cost me over $1000 in lawyer fees.
I would like to add one more thing in this forum. In the 1990s we were promised 100,000 new police officer is the country. They were federally funded for only a few years. Since that time the federal funding is over but the cops remain. These government entities, especially NCHP, are doing little but revenue enhancement. I could go on, but…
Mike your quite right. Bill Clinton promised a 100,000 new cops “on the streets”. He delivered exactly what he promised. What the American people thought he meant by the phrase “on the streets” and the way it turned out was two entirely different things. The so-called criminals that Bill Clinton inferred too turned out to be the American drivers!! Of course most people thought he was talking about actual dangerous criminals. I remember it well and I shuttered when I first heard it announced back in the early ’90’s because having studied the philosophy of municipalities and law enforcement, I knew drivers were going to be in for a long, hard ride. My prediction unfortunately has been fulfilled.
A couple years after the program started it was announced that one of our local police departments was getting a grant. The program was called the “COPS MORE” program. I wrote my U.S. Representative and he got me information from the US department responsible for doling out the money. I asked if any of this grant would be used for traffic control. The response was that it would. It turns out that “real” criminals was not the only target they were allowed to use the money for. Departments had a wide range of uses for this grant money. All this money should have had a narrow definition as to how it was to be used and traffic control should have been a BIG NO NO. I’m sure law enforcement lobbiest made sure that law enforcement could use the money for just about anything. Something uncommon when the government doles out money. It always has strings attached. It illustrates how powerful law enforcement in this county has become.
Whether you like Bill Clinton or not, that and it’s sister programs had to be one of the biggest crap programs ever sold to the American public. The general public is so naive about law enforcement intentions and their masters, the municipalities they work for. As I’ve said a zillion times, it perplexes me as to why more people don’t get involved to reform the system. I can think of several good bills to get introduced right now starting with transparency of all these departments. Did you ever notice how hard it is to get data on a departments traffic control program? It’s like a state secret. I wonder why…ha, ha.
We set around talking about the problem but that’s as far as it goes. Talking and debating a this subject is good but actually affecting change is something entirely different. We all know the problem but that’s about as far as it goes. The cops love us for remaining silent on the issue of traffic control reform. Meanwhile their organizations are thinking of more and newer ways to screw the driving public. We elect our legislators but they use them. It’s a hell’va deal. And they laugh all the way to the bank with a big smirk on their face.
I’ve tried to get something done here in Oklahoma but I have no support. I’m not going to fight the good fight alone, I can’t. One or two citizens are just not going to get much traction no matter how noisy they make at the legislative level. I’m almost at the point now that if the damn drivers won’t wake up, let’em get hit in the pocket book. I hate to be a pessimist but I really think we may be past the point of no return. The American drivers/people/citizens have become so complacent just as a herd of sheep. Ya, I raised some sheep when I was a kid as a 4-H project, honest. I know what I’m talking about on both points. Mike, as you so correctly pointed out, the effects of these now defunct programs still exist.
Jerry, I too am in my early sixties. I also remember traffic control as being about safety. Revenue wasn’t a consideration back then by police departments and thus we had much more reasonable enforcement. As Jame Young so correctly pointed out on another blog, this all started as a result of the NMSL in the seventies when in the process of enforcing the 55 mph speed limit, municipalities found out how much money could be extracted from the driving public. I remember vividly sometime in the late ’70’s when some judge in Dade County Florida put radar on trial, a vendor representative testified that the two best ways for a municipality to make money was through municipal bonds and a radar gun.
Jerry, because you and I have seen traffic control from a historical perspective, and may help to explain why some of us are more appalled then the younger generation. They have no way to know how much worse things have become. The law enforcement community understands this and realize that as younger generations come along, they won’t object so much because they have no way to know how much the noose has been tightening around the driving publics neck. Most cops are out there now-a-days just to fill their quota so their performance report won’t look bad. Any safety value is purely accidental. Radar doesn’t find the real accident causations such as following too closely, left lane hogging, cell phone use and the numerous distractions in modern day car. It’s clear to me and it probably is to you also that modern law enforcement has made a sham and a mockery out of traffic control.
i receive 3 ticket 1 for speed another for muffler and this the i look another car more speed to my and more sound this car go to the corner and the police not looking the police talk to me o you go a 70 in zone 50 an i talk to the police you stop my and i go not 70 i go 60 because i look my speed and this cop talk to me is not my problem
I just want to ask some of those opposed to speeding tickets- Have you ever had to work a fatality car wreck, and notify a family of the loss? Ever had someone travel past your home, or when your child was getting on a school bus when someone was “Flying Low”? I know people get upset from the cost of a citation, Police do not set or regulate the cost, nor does it go to our paycheck. Just as you go to work every day and do what you are ordered to do, Police do also. Like it or not. If you ask most Police Officers if they took the uniform to only write speeding tickets they would answer no, it’s part of the job. Reducing speed does prevent crashes and the loss of life. I don’t know how many of you live on Highways, but I have had numerous people who do, tell me Thank you for slowing the traffic down. What we do is not personal. You probably have not seen what some of us have, and I would not want you to, but I want to prevent it from happining again, at least the best I can. This Country is lacking in respect for others, and the way we drive is not beyond that. Just think about it. Thanks for listening to my aspect of it.
There’s many on here that can explain your inquiry better than I. Here’s my quick take on it. Many of us resent the “business” of traffic control. Take ALL the money out of traffic control and we will see more balanced enforcement. You had to have had your head in the sand while surfing not to have observed how much revenue has played a vital role in influencing speed traps and abusive enforcement. See; http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/22/2205.asp
Also read; http://www.motorists.org/blog/traffic-tickets/7-ways-to-shut-down-a-speed-trap/ is a particularly good one. Enjoy.
Brad,
I don’t think anyone here is advocating the “freedom” to drive fast on residential street or “fly low” past a school bus. That is just dumb irresponsible behaviour.
No, we’re talking about the highway where there is nothing to hit except the guardrail and speed limits are set low with the intent of being able to write more tickets.
In other words, criminializing what would otherwise be perfectly acceptible. Why is law enforcement not opposed to that?
Brad writes:
{I just want to ask some of those opposed to speeding tickets- Have you ever had to work a fatality car wreck, and notify a family of the loss?}
No, because if citizens get near a crash, they’re threatened with arrest for interfering. I used to work in the ER of a major hospital so I’ve seen the results of crashes, which is why I work so hard to improve traffic safety effectiveness.
{Police do not set or regulate the cost, nor does it go to our paycheck.}
That is generally but not universally true. In so many of the CS speedtraps listed on this site, the village administration and police are the same people and their paychecks do depend on catching speeders. And that $100 billion collected in speed fines every year go somewhere into the system of which the cops are a major part.
{Reducing speed does prevent crashes and the loss of life.}
Then you need to show us the stats because NHTSA and many independent academic studies do not show that at all.
{ I don’t know how many of you live on Highways, but I have had numerous people who do, tell me Thank you for slowing the traffic down.}
With all due respect to those people, it not the residents who determine the speed limits but the drivers. At least that is the scientific method. A more reasonable decision is to not live on the highway. And nobody lives on Interstates.
{ What we do is not personal.}
For the driver it is very personal.
{ You probably have not seen what some of us have, and I would not want you to, but I want to prevent it from happining again, at least the best I can.}
That is what I have been touting for nearly 50 years now: policies that are designed to actually accomplish something other than raise revenue.
Brad, I respect your respective but as is usually the case, it’s one point of view. There’s simply no evidence that pure speeding in-of-itself is a major cause of accidents. You should know that accidents are almost always caused by multiple factors. I was recently required to take a FAA mandated class because I work in aviation. Safety is my concern too. The class related to “Human Factors in safety”. We looked at medical errors which cause loss of lives, auto crashes and of course aviation accidents. Unless the class was all wrong, your making auto accident causation by enforcement arbitrary speed limits, far too simplistic. There’s plenty of studies and research suggesting of the REAL causes of auto accidents and ……speeding simply is not a significant factor. There’s a multitude of traffic laws that REALLY affect auto safety that are not being enforced in lieu of speed enforcement. Radar doesn’t see the bad drivers on the road. But it’s just so easy to set up a trap to get your quota. No reasonable person is suggesting that you go flying around in total denial of the your driving environment. Speed traps is one of the reasons why so many of us have little respect for law enforcement knowing it’s for revenue and not safety.
Please read; “One thousand motorists died on Virginia roads despite crack downs on motorists and massive speeding ticket fines”. http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/21/2148.asp
{Reducing speed does prevent crashes and the loss of life.}
And if no one moves at all, there won’t be any crashes and fatalties.
This syllogism has been the mantra of those seeking lower and lower speed limits for as long as I can remember.
Coming from a family of law enforcement officers (highway patrol and county sheriffs), I can tell you that the PRIMARY reason for highway fatalities is poor driving skills, lack of courtsey and not paying full time and attention.
Getting a drivers license in the U.S. is a joke. Just go in an pass a short written test and a 10 minute road test, and you are good to go! If you want to have an impact on safety, up the test standards. These tests do nothing to measure skills.
Courtsey on the highways is another concern. Why do people linger in the left lane of a divided highway? Move right except to pass! Only Oregon has this law (to my knowledge) and they enforce it! Give a gap and take a gap during rush hour merges. Look out for the other guy – I have avoided many accidents by giving way to someone else who was not looking out, in a daze or other wise disengaged. The first person that says, “I had the right-of-way as a defense – should get charged with the accident or violation.
Put the cell phones and GPS navigators away and out of sight! Pay attention to your 2 ton hunk of metal travelling down the road at 60 mph. You watch where you swing your hammer when pounding nails? Same diff.
Folks get preoccupied with speed and get duped by the NHSTA do gooders into thinking that ridiculously low speed limits are the answer. They are objective enforcement arbiters, but ineffective in encouraging real change for the better in driving habits.
John B., well said. I have no GPS, my CD player has been used a total of about 2 minutes since I purchased the vehicle (just to see if it worked) and anybody who calls me on my old bag cell phone knows they’ve got about a minute of time to say what they’re gonna say or the hammer comes down. When I drive, I concentrate on my driving . No, I’m not a perfect driver but I’m always trying to do better. I agree, courtesy is lacking big time.
Although you hinted of it you failed to elaborate. A few years ago the AAA had a bill introduced into the Oklahoma legislature that would increase funding for drivers education. A lot of tongue wagging ensued but by the time the bill was massaged back and forth in committees, when it finally became law it was practically a joke (all voluntary and little state funding backing it, just to name a few). Of all the organizations who I thought would fall behind this legislation would have been law enforcement. Surprise, they received it with only a luke warm response. Said driver training didn’t have any effect when the kid under real world conditions. Hmmmm. I can’t think of a better first step to getting drivers off to a good start in their driving lifetime then a state-of-the-art drivers training course for high school students. We now have driving simulators. Let them make their mistakes in those rather then out on the road. I’m still puzzled about LEO’s lack of support.
I agree about speed enforcement. The fact that law enforcement blames every accident on speeding regardless, has lulled many drivers into a false sense of security. Many drivers now feel that as long as they stay at or below the speed limit, nothing else will cause them to get into a accident or a traffic citation. All kinds of studies and statistics say otherwise but still the status quo continues.
Albo is back at it in Virginia, athough he voted to repeal his fees, HB 161 which keeps some of the fees has passed Va House. I have emailed my State delagete and Senator my displesure
steve, your a rare bird. Sending a message to your legislators is rare act by most drivers. Keep up the good work. Get your friends and family members to do the same.
Just do what NY does (or did in the 70’s) have Traffic Control Agents do the citiation writing- no matter though IT IS WHAT IT IS! MONEY & REVENUE that is why you always have them out in force at a particuliar time each month & ONLY THEN!!!!
BTW Let you or I try that & see how fast our car would be impounded or get BOOTED for not paying the fine!!!!
Most highway accidents i have seen were results of a slow moving vehicle. The slow moving vehicle was never in the accident. The accident was always several vehicles behind the idiot who caused the crash, who never had a clew it even happened, much less that they were actually at fault.
John B. wrote: “They are objective enforcement arbiters, but ineffective in encouraging real change for the better in driving habits.”
That’s a very good point. The objective “letter of the law” is one part, and the subjective “spirit of the law” is equally important. An infraction can only occur when both concepts have been violated.
I have never got into an accident, nor have I been indirectly involved in one. I’ve been driving since I was a kid and I am a pro at it. When I get into my car, I pump up the tunes and they get me into a relaxed feel, and then I always get up to my comfort speed of 57 MPH…Every road…I’ve gotten 2 tickets so far (one when it was like 3 9in the morning and I was the ONLY one on the road for MILES. People speed…and most speeders are good speeders…in the fact that they are paying attention to driving and not a cell phone and they know what they are doing.
Speeding kills period. Im a paramedic and ive lost my husband to a speeding vehicle. Everyone should drive as they would around a school bus….that thier own child was on. If your family member was killed the first question that comes to mind is How fast was the vehicle going? Speed limits are set to protect you and your family. Good news for all you assholes who cut cars in half,yes the slow moving ones with children in the back. You probably wont do jail time. You can blame it on a slow moving vehicle and say oops my bad . Is that a childs femur over there?
SPEED LIMITS ARE NOT SET TO PROTECT ! I can now legally drive 75mph on many freeways where the maximum speed limit used to be 55mph. And the roads were not upgraded to handle the higher speeds. This clearly shows speed limits were and are illegally underposted.
Andrea Basse writes: {Speeding kills period.}
This is just not supported by evidence, more of which is revealed every day. It is, however, a standard part of the mythology of traffic enforcement because it plays to a wide but largely ignorant audience.
NHTSA released a document (DOT HS 811 059) that reports an extensive study that sent investigators to the field – rather than merely tabulating data from police reports – to examine physical evidence and to speak directly to drivers, passengers and witnesses. Traveling too fast for conditions accounted for only 5% of the critical pre-crash events. Compare this to the 22% for driving off the edge of the roadway. How do we reconcile these facts with the number one strategy of traffic enforcement, speed control?
Two things of note about this study. One, it is compellingly similar to the earliest study of this type known as the MacAndrew study from Harvard School of Public health in the mid 1950s. While MacAndrew studied fewer crashes (and only fatals), they spent about $10,000 per crash, all when one could buy a house for $8,000. They had whole teams of engineers, psychologists, forensic medical staff, etc. Two, it still does not address the role or prominence of suicide as a factor, despite independent studies that suggest anywhere from 4%-16% of fatalities are actually suicide.
{ Speed limits are set to protect you and your family.}
No, they are not. Speed limits are set by politicians at levels that protect them from political blowback. They have nothing to do with scientifically determined limits that obtain at the minimization point of the crash incidence curve. We are less safe, not safer because of speed limits.
To Andrea Basse
You said “Speeding kills period. Im a paramedic and ive lost my husband to a speeding vehicle. Everyone should drive as they would around a school bus….that thier own child was on. If your family member was killed the first question that comes to mind is How fast was the vehicle going? Speed limits are set to protect you and your family. Good news for all you assholes who cut cars in half,yes the slow moving ones with children in the back. You probably wont do jail time. You can blame it on a slow moving vehicle and say oops my bad . Is that a childs femur over there?.”
If this is what you believe to be true then so be it. You have every right to believe what every you want to believe. I respect what you are saying but I disagree. Speed alone does NOT kill however speeding too fast for conditions can contribute to an accident. On some freeways when conditions permit 90 mph can be done safely. Another day on the same freeway when conditions are bad 35 mph can be too fast. The safest speed all depends on the conditions around you. The safest speed should NOT be based upon the number on the sign. Lets say for example that the speed limit is 75 mph for a particular part of the freeway. During night, heavy traffic, etc 75 mph is too fast for conditions however in contrast to that when very little to no traffic is around, bright day light, visibility is good, etc then 90 mph can be done safely. The safe speed changes with the conditions. This is why regular speed limit signs do NOT always show the most safest speed for the present conditions but varaible speed limits would be a good alternative however the only problem would be the $cost$.
I wish Jim Walker was here on this article to explain this better.
I received several tickets when I was younger(between 16 and 20 something) and I stopped speeding, cold turkey. That’s all the research I need. Getting popped with $120 fines ($75 + supervision costs) was enuogh to wake ME up!
Maybe the excess fines work for some people like you, but i have had numerous speeding tickets and have been pulled over an excess of 40 times! I have had Five speeding tickets in two years and also two other tickets. I have had thousands of dollers in fines, all of which i have payed myself, and i have had my license suspended twice. NONE of these things work. Speeding can be an addiction, a way to get out, a way to disobey because you don’t have control of other things (like anorexia or balemia), something you dont know your even doing because your not constantly watching the speedometer, or a combination of those things. What people really need is a councilor to help them diagnose why they are speeding and then find ways to solve the problem. screw tickets and suspensions they dont effing work!!!! and plus, lost of people that speed are the better drivers on the road. some people seriously should not be driving because they are not competent enough and they suck at it. i have never been in, or been close to getting in an accident, but there are people who total 4 cars in a short period of time, and they are still out driving on the freakin road! speeders arent the big problem, reckless, drunk, and crappy drivers are. UGH people are so stupid!
You just need to have your DL suspended.
Speeding tickets do work. I saw that in Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago. They now have a crackdown and are not allowing drivers to drive 15 mph to 20 mph over the limit any more. It works. The traffic flow was great compared to what it used to be. There was only one driver that I saw out of hundreds that was driving more than 5 mph over the limit. The police saw him also. According to the records the past few months, deaths and fatal traffic accidents are down a lot. Part of that may be the crackdown on DUI also. If I remember right James Baxter lives in Wisconsin. I wonder what he thinks about the changes.
The conclusion of this article is bull. “Conclusion:
Drivers who receive speeding citations are at increased risk of receiving subsequent speeding citations, suggesting that speeding citations have limited effects on deterrence in the context of the current traffic enforcement system.”
It may be true that drivers who receive speeding tickets are at increased risk of receiving more tickets but that is only because if they received them in the first place then they do not respect any laws. Tickets mean little to them unless points are added to their driving record and possible drivers license suspension is possible. For many drivers they only need one ticket to learn their lesson and for many more getting a possible ticket is a deterrent and they try to never get a ticket so if they do not get a ticket they are not at increased chance of getting a second.
These type of “suggesting” type of statements are put out by people that do these surveys who have an agenda and do not show the truth. It is put out by people that have the agenda that all police are corrupt and these tickets are only about money which is also false.
Randy writes: {It may be true that drivers who receive speeding tickets are at increased risk of receiving more tickets but that is only because if they received them in the first place then they do not respect ANY laws.} [Emphasis added]
That indicates one of the unintended consequences of having a law predicated upon a fiction: it tends to degrade respect not only for that particular law but all laws. To be widely accepted, laws must be reasonable and the value of the law must be apparent to those to whom it is applied. Speed laws have failed the reasonable test on all of the ostensible reasons offered – currently safety, fuel consumption, and limiting urban sprawl – and have degraded respect for other laws, those who write them, those who enforce them and government in general. It should not surprise us that those of us on the left agree with those on the radical right that many laws deserve our contempt.
The way to fix this is not stronger enforcement but better laws.
[...] scientifically shown.” Ironically, there are studies out there that show that “Drivers who receive speeding citations are at increased risk of receiving subsequent speeding citations, suggesting that speeding citations have [...]
If you saw your kids brains spilled on the pavement after a speeding driver ran them over your tune would change. I cant believe how ignorant all of you are. We should just leave the cars and bodies out for you guys to see…why honestly do we cover it up with a yellow sheet….we should put it on the front page..stupid stupid people….speeding doesnt kill wtf
{If you saw your kids brains spilled on the pavement after a speeding driver ran them over your tune would change. I cant believe how ignorant all of you are….speeding doesnt kill wtf}
The facts do not support your fear-mongering. Aside from the improbability of such a scenario, even the virulently anti-speed NHTSA claims no more than 8.4% of the 34% of crashes caused by driver error or about 2.9% caused by speed too fast for conditions. “Speeding,” which is completely different did not even register. US DOT, NHTSA, DOT HS 811059, National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (Report to Congress), July 2008.
On a personal note, I used to work the emergency room as an orderly when I was in college and I saw all kinds of horrible things. My goal – re-enforced from a long-standing study — became to prevent those things, not to just scare drivers into compliance with silly laws that have nothing to do with crash causation.
Yes,
I stopped speeding because of speeding tickets!!!!!!!!