The practice of driving while suspended by Driving Under the Influence (DUI) offenders is a serious safety problem. The States of Oregon and Washington have enacted laws empowering police to: (1) seize the vehicle registration of motorists found to be driving on a suspended license and forward it to the State motor vehicle department for cancellation, and (2) affix a small, striped "Zebra" tag over the annual sticker on the vehicle plate. This report covers a study of the effectiveness of these laws in deterring illegal driving by drivers suspended for DUI. The results indicate that the law, which was more Limited in its application in the State of Washington, did not reduce illegal driving by DUIs. In Oregon, where the law was more widely applied, convictions for Driving While Suspended (DWS) were increased principally by instances in which the officer tagged the offender's vehicle. Offenders with tagged vehicles had significantly fewer moving violations, DUIs and DWS convictions and somewhat fewer crashes than did DWS offenders whose vehicles were not tagged. There was some evidence that in Oregon, suspended DUI offenders who were eligible but did not receive DWS citations, were deterred and reduced the amount of their illegal driving. (Author/publisher)
Abstract