Linking offence histories to accident causation using OTS data

This research project explores the links between offence histories and accident involvement of more than 2,000 active road users (ARUs) whose accident data were collected by TRL On The Spot (OTS) researchers between October 2003 and March 2010.

The first part of the research matched ARUs from the OTS database onto the DVLA, PNC or voters’ databases. Matches were found for 87% of ARUs, with 47% of these having a previous offence on either the DVLA or PNC database (or both).

The most common general offence type found was for summary motoring and the most common motoring offence type was for speed limit offences. Of the matched ARUs, 40% who were considered to be at fault in the OTS recorded accident were found to have an offence history compared to 31% of those who were not considered to be at fault.

Similarly, those ARUs who had drink and drug driving offences were more likely to be at fault in the accident, as were those who had a drugs related general offence. This suggests that more work could be done to target individuals who engage in drink and/or drug driving, perhaps through Think! campaigns.

HGV drivers had the highest percentage of both DVLA and PNC offences, followed by LGV drivers. The results related to road user type suggest that work could be done with fleet managers from companies to monitor and manage offence histories of their HGV and LGV drivers. Examples of ways in which this could be done might include advising on whether adequate checks are made at the recruitment stage and setting up a system for regular licence checking.

Comparison of the results in the Thames Valley region to a parallel report written by VSRC on the Nottinghamshire region generally found similar trends in offending.