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Traffic fines for road safety programs: could they help?

Multas de tráfico para programas de seguridad vial. podrían ayudar?

  • Published:
Securitas Vialis

Abstract

This article tests the role of traffic fines as predictors of crashes suffered by Powered-Two-Wheeler (PTW) riders in Barcelona, the city with the highest number of PTWs per inhabitant in Europe. Results show that traffic fines can work as predictors of road crashes, although not all sanctions have the same importance. Penalties associated with serious offences as running red lights or alcohol violations, are strongly correlated with the number of accidents. Thus, we argue governments are losing a valuable opportunity when using traffic fines only for punitive objectives. Traffic fines offer rich information already collected that can easily serve to identify road users at risk. This result have direct implications on the design of safety campaigns.

Resumen

Este artículo contrasta el papel de las multas de tráfico como instrumentos de predicción de los accidentes sufridos por vehículos de dos ruedas a motor (PTW) en Barcelona, ​​la ciudad con el mayor número de estos vehículos por habitante en Europa. Los resultados muestran que las multas de tráfico pueden funcionar como instrumentos de predicción de los accidentes, aunque no todas las sanciones tienen la misma importancia. Las penas asociadas a delitos graves como superar un semáforo en rojo o el consumo de alcohol, están fuertemente correlacionados con los accidentes. Por lo tanto, se sostiene quelos gobiernos están perdiendo una oportunidad valiosa cuando utilizan las multas sólo para objetivos punitivos. Las multas ofrecen una rica información ya disponible que pueden servir para identificar a los usuarios en situación de riesgo. Este resultado tiene implicaciones directas para el diseño de las campañas de seguridad vial.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Enonometrics, Statistics and Applied Economics, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 690, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

    Daniel Albalate

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  1. Daniel Albalate
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Correspondence to Daniel Albalate.

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Albalate, D. Traffic fines for road safety programs: could they help?. Securitas Vialis 9, 29–34 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12615-016-9091-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12615-016-9091-0

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