NCJ Number
152736
Date Published
1994
Length
72 pages
Annotation
This study compared driving records of 106,214 persons arrested for drug offenses in 1989 with 41,493 comparison drivers selected from the general driving population; drug offender subjects were drawn from the California Department of Justice's Monthly Arrest and Citation Register.
Abstract
Drug arrestees were grouped according to six summary offense categories used by the Department of Justice: felony narcotics, marijuana, dangerous drugs, other drugs, misdemeanor marijuana, and misdemeanor other drugs. Data were examined 1 year prearrest, 1 year postarrest, and 2 years postarrest. Each drug arrestee group had significantly more traffic violations and total accidents than the control group, except for 2-year postarrest accidents for the felony narcotics group. Measures of accident culpability showed drug arrestees to be more responsible for accidents in which they were involved than the general driving population. Specifically, drug arrestees committed 3.04 times as many traffic violations as the general driving population during the year prior to arrest, 2.22 times as many during the year after arrest, 2.02 times as many during the 2 years after arrest, and 2.38 times as many over the entire 3-year period. Drug arrestees were involved in 1.66 times as many traffic accidents as the general driving population during the year prior to arrest, 1.45 times as many during the year after arrest, 1.34 times as many during the 2 years after arrest, and 1.45 times as many traffic accidents over the entire 3-year period as the general driving population. Findings provide a public safety justification for Federal and State initiatives designed to institute driver licensing actions against drug offenders. 40 references, 12 tables, and 8 figures