VEHICULAR NEGLIGENCE - THE SOCIAL AND CRIMINAL PATTERNS OF AUTO TRAFFIC FATALITIES

• NCJ Number: 48348
• Author(s): R J MICHALOWSKI
• Date Published: 1975
• Length: 90 pages
• Corporate Author: Ohio State University
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM SERIES

Annotation

THIS EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE ECOLOGICAL, DEMOGRAPHIC, AND CRIMINOLOGICAL PATTERNS OF FATAL TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS ATTEMPTS TO DETERMINE WHETHER URBAN TRAFFIC FATALITIES EXHIBIT PATTERNS SIMILAR TO URBAN VIOLENT CRIME.

Abstract

AFTER REVIEWING THE AVAILABLE LITERATURE CONCERNING BOTH TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS AND URBAN CRIME, SEVERAL PREDICTIONS ARE MADE REGARDING FATAL URBAN TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS. THESE PREDICTIONS ARE BASED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT FATAL URBAN TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS ARE A SOCIAL PROBLEM NOT UNLIKE OTHER URBAN SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND THAT, FOR A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS, INVOLVEMENT IS NOT A RANDOM OCCURRENCE, BUT PART OF A GENERAL SUBCULTURAL PATTERN OF CRIMINAL AGGRESSIVENESS. ALL FATAL TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS OCCURRING IN COLUMBUS, OHIO, FROM 1969 TO 1971 ARE THEN EXAMINED. DURING THIS PERIOD THERE WERE 223 SUCH ACCIDENTS INVOLVING 429 PERSONS. DEMOGRAPHIC CHARTING OF THESE ACCIDENTS SHOWED THAT, LIKE CRIME, THEY WERE CONCENTRATED IN A RING AROUND THE POOR, MINORITY-FILLED CORE OF THE CITY. THE INCIDENCE GRADUALLY DECREASED THROUGH CONCENTRIC RINGS, REACHING A LOW POINT IN SUBURBAN AREAS. A DISPROPORTIONATE NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS OCCURRED IN AREAS OF LOW SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS. A STUDY OF THOSE WHO VIOLATED THE LAW IN THE COURSE OF THESE ACCIDENTS SHOWED THAT ABOUT 50 PERCENT HAD PRIOR POLICE RECORDS FOR EITHER CRIMINAL OR TRAFFIC OFFENSES. ONLY 34 PERCENT OF THE VICTIMS, THOSE WHO WERE NOT BREAKING THE LAW AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT, HAD POLICE RECORDS. OVER ONE-THIRD OF THE VIOLATORS HAD PRIOR FELONY RECORDS, TWICE THE RATE AMONG VICTIMS. STUDY DATA IS SUMMARIZED IN A SERIES OF TABLES. A TYPOLOGY IS THEN GIVEN OF FATAL URBAN TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS. THESE INCLUDE CASE HISTORIES OF: THE SIMPLE ERROR JUDGMENT ACCIDENT; THE SIMPLE ALCOHOL ACCIDENT; THE VIOLENT ERUPTION OF EMOTIONS ACCIDENT; AND THE 'SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL,' WHICH MIXES ALCOHOL, RACING AUTOMOBILES, AN DISREGARD FOR OTHERS. THE VIOLENT ERUPTION ACCOUNTED FOR ABOUT 20 PERCENT OF ACCIDENTS STUDIED; THE SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL, 15 PERCENT. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS NEED TO BE INVESTIGATED AS AN EXTENSION OF THE SUBCULTURE OF VIOLENCE. A BIBLIOGRAPHY IS APPENDED. (GLR)