Traffic citation rates among drivers of different residency status in the United States

• Published in: Accident analysis and prevention 2013-03, Vol.51, p.215-221
• Main Authors: Romano, Eduardo, Tippetts, Scott, Fell, James, Eichelberger, Angela, Grosz, Milton, Wiliszowski, Connie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accident analysis; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Alcohol Drinking - ethnology; Alcohol Drinking - legislation & jurisprudence; Automobile Driving - legislation & jurisprudence; Automobile Driving - statistics & numerical data; Biological and medical sciences; Chi-Square Distribution; Continental Population Groups; Crashes; Crime - ethnology; Crime - statistics & numerical data; Databases, Factual; DWI; Emigrants and Immigrants; Ethnic; Failure; Female; Florida; Forensic engineering; Health participants; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Prevention and actions; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Recent immigrants; Residency status; Seat Belts - legislation & jurisprudence; Seat Belts - utilization; Speeding; Survival Analysis; Tennessee; Traffic engineering; Traffic flow; Traffic signals; Traffic violations; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0001-4575; 1879-2057
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2012.10.002

► Traffic violations by drivers’ residency status in Florida and Tennessee. ► No consistent/uniform traffic outcome was associated to residency status. ► The impact of residency status varies depending on the type of violation. ► The role played by residency status also varies by race/ethnicity and state. Racial/ethnic groups in the United States may be overrepresented in motor-vehicle incidents (crashes and violations), particularly among low-acculturated immigrants coming from countries in which traffic laws are not well enforced. Some evidence suggests just the opposite. We collected and analyzed information on the residency status of licensed drivers in Florida and Tennessee to examine the hypothesis that the prevalence of seat-belt nonuse, DWI, speeding, and failures to obey a traffic signal was higher among recent immigrants than among US citizens. We rejected this hypothesis. Both in Florida and Tennessee, US citizens were more likely to be cited for DWI, seat-belt, or speeding violations than the noncitizens. However, immigrants were more often cited for failure-to-obey than US citizens. We concluded that residency status does, appear to play a role in the likelihood of traffic violations, but this role is far from uniform; varying depending upon the type of traffic violation, the racial/ethnic group, and the state in which the violation occurred.