Citation

DeJoy DM. Proc. Am. Assoc. Automot. Med. Annu. Conf. 1985; 29: 75-89.

Affiliation

University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

Copyright

(Copyright © 1985, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper provides a summary report of three experimental studies on the attribution of responsibility for alcohol-related motor vehicle incidents. Observers were presented with specially prepared crash or event scenarios, the contents of which varied according to the severity of the outcome, the level of unsafe driving involved, the degree of perpetrator-observer personal similarity, and the extent to which the victim contributed to the event. Alcohol consumption per se did not influence responsibility attribution and punishment assignment independent of the circumstances of the event. These judgments were found to be sensitive to the severity of the outcome and whether the drinking and driving was accompanied by obvious unsafe driving. Observers appeared to deny any similarity to the drinking driver, and for uncomplicated drinking and driving, observer attributions were affected by the details of the event sequence and the presence of even indirect victim contribution.

Language: en