Characteristics of Chinese Drivers Attending a Mandatory Training Course Following Licence Suspension Dr Judy Fleiter Postdoctoral Research Fellow Co-authors: WATSON, Barry; GUAN, Manquan; DING, Jingyan, XU Cheng

Collaboration Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from Australia’s National Health & Medical Research Council to promote Australia-China road safety research –Zhejiang Police College, Hangzhou, China (2 years) –CARRS-Q, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia (2 years)

Overview Background – Demerit point system and driver retraining in Zhejiang Province Method Findings Conclusion and Recommendations

Background Traffic law enforcement relies on penalties and sanctions: –Vehicle (eg Impoundment) –Person (eg. Remedial programs, Detention) –Licence (eg. Suspension, Disqualification) Commonly administered by Demerit points system

Demerit point systems Vary between countries Offences have predetermined # points assigned Often, more severe offences associated with greater number of points Licence holders accrue (or lose) points Threshold (predetermined limit) is reached within certain timeframe Licence suspended or disqualified for set time van Schagen & Machata, 2012

Variations (1) Threshold commonly points (Bulgaria = 39) New Zealand - 12 points over 2 years Australia - 12 points over 3 years China - 12 points over 1 year Parts of EU, 1 pt/offence; 3 offences = suspension Other places, 6 or 8 points per offence Different thresholds for different drivers Styles et al, 2009; van Schagen & Machata, 2012

Variations (2) Novice drivers –Queensland: part of Graduated Driver Licensing system, Learner and Provisional Licence holders have 4 points/year Professional drivers –Italy: Offences committed when driving professionally tallied in separate driving record Repeat offenders –Prolonged periods of suspension for recidivists in some places Double demerits at particular times (eg holidays)

China Rapid recent motorisation Significant road trauma burden Large increase in –newly licensed drivers –private car ownership Major challenge to manage record numbers of 1 st time car owners and novice drivers

Retraining after Licence Suspension (1) 12 points in 1 year = licence suspension for 1 month Mandatory 1 wk retraining –own expense –Must pass examination to regain licence Course administered & run by Traffic Police Department, Public Security Bureau Low cost (RMB 51 in Zhejiang Province) –Average annual income = RMB35,731 Urban; RMB13,071 Rural

Retraining Course Content Traffic Rules Traffic Law & RegulationsSafety Issues

Retraining after Licence Suspension (2) Offences leading to licence loss include: –Speeding –Unlicensed driving –Vehicle overloading –Red light running –Alcohol-impaired driving –Driving wrong way on a one way street

Retraining after Licence Suspension (3) If Course done twice in 1 year, suspension period doubles (2 months) If suspended 3 rd time, must redo novice driver training (more extensive, takes approx 2 months) Recent revision to regulation: –Accrue 10 demerit points in 1 year, can apply to undertake 2 day course to regain 4 points –Can only do this once

Little is known about effectiveness of demerit point schemes and driver education in China……

Research Aim Pilot study to examine basic information about participants of a driver retraining course to gain baseline data

Zhejiang Province

South east coast of China Hangzhou is capital city Population 54+ million (end 2011) Registered vehicles 6.5+ million (end 2011) Valid licences: million –22.36% of population, end 2011 In 2011, 1.38 million new licences issued –17% increase on previous year. Zhejiang Traffic Management Department, 2012; Zhejiang Public Security Bureau, 2012

Method 2 visits by research team to Driver Retraining Centre in Hangzhou Anonymous questionnaire completed ‘in class’ in presence of research team Responses not available to training staff 94% response rate 239 participants

Sample Characteristics 87% male –Higher than Provincial level of licence holders –Approx 2/3 male Private vehicle ownership = 83.3% Mean age 35 years (SD=8.7, Range 21-60)

Age distribution

Annual Income Zhejiang Average annual income = RMB35,731 Urban; RMB13,071 Rural

Number of Years Licensed

Hours Driven/Week Mean = hours/week, SD=14.4, Range 1 – 86 hours

# Infringements in Last Year Mean = 4.6 infringements (SD=3.2, Range 2-18) 33% reported 5+ infringements 4.3% reported 10 + infringements Most commonly reported violations... Violation% Drink Driving (DUI, BAC) % reported 2 Speeding47.717% reported 3+ Disobey traffic rules (includes run red light)3.1 Using inappropriate licence3.1 Licence plate destroyed/not displayed2.2 Drunk Driving (DWI, BAC)2.20.4% reported 2

Avoiding Legal Penalty? Received Infringements but didn’t pay them in the last year? –24% Yes Number of infringements not paid # Infringements% Participants

Certainty of Receiving Penalty if… Caught by speed camera –76% sure they would receive penalty Caught by traffic police officer –82.6% sure they would receive penalty Then asked if previously used specific strategies to avoid detection or penalty

Strategies to Avoid Penalty Avoidance strategies reported Say others were driving Use social relationships Cover or remove plate 47.7%33.5%20% Percentage reporting ‘Sometimes to Always’

Crash Involvement (1) Previous year M = 0.53 crashes (SD=0.9; Range 0-5) 14.5% reported >1 crash No information on ‘at fault’ crashes Length held licence examined to see if difference in crashes

Crash Involvement (2) Four groups created according to length of time licensed 1.Novice drivers (<2 years licensed) years licensed years licensed years licensed Significant difference found between Novice & 11+ Novice drivers reported more crashes No other differences found

Conclusions (1) Driver retraining courses vary across international jurisdictions Some show +ve results when evaluated No evaluation data available for China Little known about effectiveness of driver education processes in China Delhomme, Grenier, & Kreel, 2008; Senserrick, Yu, Wei, Stevenson, & Ivers, 2011

Conclusions (2) Research conducted approx. 1 year after serious penalties increased for Drunk driving DWI in China (May 2011) Encouraging that only 2.2% reported DWI (0.08+ BAC) in previous year Lesser offence (DUI – BAC) reported by two thirds of sample Suggests that ongoing effort needed to educate about risks of DUI Half sample reported speeding offences. Work still needed to promote speed limit compliance

Conclusions (3) Integrity of penalty system is critical to effective traffic law enforcement Effective deterrence relies on high perceived risk of apprehension and certainty of receiving penalty 1/3 reported avoiding penalty in previous year Various strategies reported Encouragingly, majority reported not engaging in avoidance behaviours Important to strengthen integrity of system to reduce opportunities for punishment avoidance

Conclusions (4) Limitations acknowledged: Self-report data – no link to official violations database No conclusions on effectiveness of demerit point scheme or retraining course – data not available Use of retraining course shows willingness to improve road safety situation in China Future research could build on this work to establish baseline data for comparison to assess effectiveness of retraining courses.

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