| Summary |
Chien-Ming Tseng, 2006.06
Department of Transportation Technology and Management
National Chiao Tung University
Car accidents bring many damages including death, injury and property loss to the victims. On the other side, in the case of hitting-and-running and causing death/or injury or drunk-driving and causing death/or serious injury, there are many kinds of penalties for offenders including criminal punishment, civil compensation and administrative lifetime driver license revocation (ALLR). In October 2001, the Taiwan constitutional court pointed out that ALLR does not violate the Constitution. Considering driving is a necessity of living, it should be further considered whether ALLR has impacted human basic rights, such as the rights of moving freedom, the right to work and the right of existence, and kicked those illegal drivers out of the road.
This study investigated the effectiveness of ALLR and its impact on offenders, based on a two-stage survey of 768 offenders. It was found that after ALLR had been imposed, 23.4% of these offenders were still driving almost the same as before, 59.8% drove significantly less frequently, and only 16.8% of the offenders gave up driving completely. Overall, 65.7% of the offenders?annual mileage driven was reduced by ALLR punishment. For those offenders who drove at almost the same driving frequency, working, commuting, visiting relatives/or friends, and driving kids were the main activities compelling them to continue driving. However, for those offenders whose driving was significantly reduced, the necessity of traveling to work and driving kids were their main reasons for continuing to drive.
Results of logistic regression models showed that offenders?compliance with ALLR was significantly correlated with their personal characteristics (age, income), penalty status (incarceration, duration of ALLR), and the need to drive for working, commuting and shopping. Elderly and low-income offenders were more likely to abide by the ALLR restriction. Offenders who had been incarcerated were more likely to drive the same as before ALLR when compared to those offenders who had not been incarcerated. The study results of Generalized Estimating Equations (GEEs) model also showed that personal characteristics (age, income, license category), penalty status (incarceration, high civil compensation), driving needs (work, commuting, traveling and driving kids), indicator of group membership, indicator of post-ALLR, and the interaction of license category together with post-ALLR were all significantly associated with the mileage driven. It was found that ALLR is fairly effective in keeping offenders off the road, but it can reduce their ability to make a living, resulting in the less fortunate becoming more helpless. |
