title: The road safety implications of illegal street racing and associated risky driving behaviours: An analysis of offences and offenders.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the road safety implications of illegal street racing and associated risky driving behaviours. This issue was considered in two ways: Phase 1 examined the descriptions of 848 illegal street racing and associated risky driving offences that occurred in Queensland, Australia, in order to estimate the risk associated with these behaviours; and Phase 2 examined the traffic and crash histories of the 802 male offenders involved in these offences, and compared them to those of an age-matched comparison group, in order to examine the risk associated with the driver. It was found in Phase 1 that only 3.7% of these offences resulted in a crash (none of which were fatal), and that these crashes tended to be single-vehicle crashes where the driver lost control of the vehicle and collided with a fixed object. Phase 2 found that the offender sample had significantly more traffic infringements, licence sanctions and crashes in the previous three years than the comparison group. It was concluded that while only a small proportion of racing and associated offences result in a crash, these offenders appear to be generally risky drivers that warrant special attention.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Queensland, School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. nerida.l.leal@tmr.qld.gov.au
authors.forename: Nerida L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Leal
authors.forename: Barry C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Watson
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001334:Automobile Driving; D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057237:Criminals; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011793:Queensland; D011998:Recreation; D012306:Risk; D012449:Safety; D055815:Young Adult