Citation

Votey HL. Proc. Int. Counc. Alcohol Drugs Traffic Safety Conf. 1981; 1981: 1182-1195.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1981, The author(s) and the Council, Publisher International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper focuses on the use of law enforcement with respect to existing statutory sanctions to control motoring accidents. The analysis makes use of information on crucial parametric relationships with regard to accident generation and control that has been obtained in statistical studies conducted by the author in Norway and Sweden. The data with respect to Norway, combined with information the author has obtained on costs of accidents and of maintaining elements of the criminal justice system, permit the calculation of marginal benefits and marginal costs of added control efforts for that country. Implications about the appropriate (cost effective) levels of sanctions can also be drawn from this analysis. The research methodology takes into account sets of interacting forces that have tended to be somewhat neglected in previous studies. As a consequence, policy implications tend to differ from those of some earlier studies (e.g., H.L. Ross, "The Scandinavian Myth"). The reasons for such differences bear serious consideration. While the statistical results for Norway and Sweden and the cost analysis for Norway may not lead directly to policy implications for other countries, the analytical approach is general in nature and may be appropriately applied to data for countries with even strikingly different legal institutions and driving environments. (TRRL)