The Effectiveness of Short Individual Driver Improvement Sessions

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The Effectiveness of Short Individual Driver Improvement Sessions

R. S. Coppin / R. C. Peak / A. Lew / W. C. Marsh

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of driver improvement hearings on subsequent driving performance. Thirty-five hundred cases of negligent drivers who had been called in for a hearing and a group of 2,000 control drivers who were classified as negligent drivers but had not been notified for a hearing were selected for the study. Subjects from each group were matched by age, sex, marital status, prior accidents and prior traffic citations. From these groups 501 summer hearing matches and 466 non-summer hearing matches were made. The matched control and hearing drivers were then compared on their subsequent two years driving record. Statistical analyses of these comparisions showed: The hearing group had significantly fewer citations in the first subsequent year than the control group. No significant difference was found between the hearing and control group with respect to citation frequency in the second subsequent year. No significant difference was found between the hearing and control groups with respect to subsequent accident frequency in either the first or second subsequent year. The various age groups did not appear to be differentially affected by the hearing process. The hearing significantly delayed receipt of initial citations in the subsequent-to-treatment interval. No significant difference in the onset of subsequent initial accident involvement was noted between the groups. (Author)