Review of New Jersey point system.

PDFTech ReportFHWA NJ-2013-004Traffic violationsDriver monitoringNegligencePoint demerit systemsEvaluationRecidivismDriver licensesNew JerseyNew Jersey. Dept. of Transportation. Bureau of ResearchCarnegie, Jon A.Ozbay, KaanMudigonda, SandeepAlan M. Voorhees Transportation CenterUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionThe purpose of this study is to investigate the comparative effectiveness of point-based versus incident-basednegligent driver monitoring systems and to explore how certain changes to the existing point-based system used inNew Jersey might improve the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission\ue2\u20ac\u2122s (MVC) ability to properly identify andaddress problem drivers. This study seeks to address an existing gap in the literature and advance the currentstate of knowledge regarding the effectiveness of point- versus incident-based monitoring systems. The results ofthis study further confirm the results of previous studies that the interventions used by MVC to correct problemdriver behavior are effective. As part of this study, the research team used survival analysis to show that theaverage time to next offense for driver\ue2\u20ac\u2122s subjected to MVC interventions increases significantly for all threeinterventions used. Three primary alternatives to MVC\ue2\u20ac\u2122s current point-based system of driver monitoring andcontrol were investigated. Alternative #1 retained MVC\ue2\u20ac\u2122s existing point-based monitoring system but limited oreliminated the practice of plea bargaining motor vehicle offenses. Alternative #2 replaced MVC\ue2\u20ac\u2122s current point-based system of monitoring with an incident-based system; and Alternative #3 supplemented the existing point-based system with an incident-based habitual offender license suspension program. Each of the alternativesresults in increased system outputs in the form of advisory notices, re-education class enrollments and licensesuspensions. These additional interventions result in improved safety outcomes in the form of longer periods ofsafe driving after intervention and fewer future violations and crashes among the drivers in each cohort.Across the alternatives, improvement in time until next offense is greatest among male drivers. This may be in partdue to the fact that male drivers have higher overall rates of violation than female drivers. The best results in termsof time until next offense appear to derive from Alternative #1 Case 1 which presents the highest level ofimprovement across virtually every age and gender cohort. Interestingly, Alternative #2 which by far subjects thegreatest number of drivers to interventions of all types presents improvements slightly below Alternative #1 Case 1.Alternative #3 does appear to result in longer times to next offense among habitual offenders but the timesbetween offenses remain very short. This result highlights the fact that \ue2\u20ac\u153hard core\ue2\u20ac? habitual offenders are likely topose significant safety concerns even though more drivers are subject to license suspension, the most strict of theinterventions used by MVC. From the analysis it seems clear that there are changes that MVC can make toenhance the agency\ue2\u20ac\u2122s ability to address negligent driving behavior and thereby improve highway safety. However,at least two of alternatives explored in this study, Alternatives #1 and #2 present significant and perhapsinsurmountable political, systems and operational challenges. Alternative #3 presents the most promise but it toowill require careful consideration of the costs and benefits of any change