Impact of Traffic Law Punishment Experience on Speed Limit Violation Behavior
PURPOSES : In this study, the speed limit violation behavior of drivers after experiencing traffic law punishment was analyzed. Simultaneously, the tendency of such drivers to violate other traffic laws besides the speed limit was empirically analyzed. METHODS : Over a two-month period (May–June, 2024), 1,235 responses were collected through a mobile on-line survey targeting drivers living in the urban areas of Chungnam Province, South Korea. After building a binary logit regression model on drivers’ speed limit violations with their personal attributes (e.g., gender, age, education, job, marital status, driving frequency, and driving experience) and the number of past traffic law violations as explanatory variables, the speed limit violation determinants were derived. Additionally, the relationship between the different types of traffic violations were investigated. RESULTS : As the driver age increased, the rate of speed limit violations decreased. Drivers working in relatively high-paying jobs are more likely to incur in speed limit violations. The greater the driving experience, the lower the possibility of a speed limit violation. The greater the number of fines imposed in the previous 12 months, the more likely it is to violate the speed limit. Additionally, drivers who had violated the speed limit were found to be more likely to violate laws by failing to follow stop lines at crosswalks, not activating turn signal lamps, entering intersections under a red light, and not wearing seatbelts on public roads. CONCLUSIONS : Fines work as a means of sanctioning to ensure their effectiveness in suppressing repeated law violations. Particularly, there is a limit to the fact that compulsory collection cannot be implemented when the arrears are not large, and institutional improvements are required to improve awareness of the fact that when a violator is imposed with a fine, it is not considered seriously. Meanwhile, there is a need to develop educational programs so that drivers can follow traffic laws under any circumstance, expand crackdowns on traffic violations, and strengthen preventive campaigns and promotions for traffic safety. Additionally, continuous efforts are needed to help drivers who repeatedly violate traffic laws develop negative attitudes toward violating these laws.