Driving Citations: Relationships With Criminal Behavior

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to examine relationships, if any, between the number of lifetime driving citations and the number of lifetime criminal charges. Methods: Using a cross-sectional, consecutive sample of internal medicine outpatients and a self-report survey methodology, we queried participants about the number of past driving citations as well as charges for any of 27 criminal behaviors as delineated by the crime cataloguing schema of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Results: Scores on the measure of driving citations were positively correlated with scores on the measure of different forms of illegal behavior (r = .39, p < .001). Additional analyses indicated that the relationship between driving citations and illegal behaviors did not vary by sex. Conclusions: Though the receipt of driving citations is fairly common, an increasing number of driving citations demonstrates a relationship with criminal behavior. This relationship may be mediated by a number of psychological variables, including various Axis I and II disorders.

Keywords:

• Criminal behavior
• Driving citations
• Illegal behavior
• Traffic violations