This study looked at the relationship between risky behaviour in traffic and criminal behaviour. Analyses were based on a random sample of 1531 persons (aged 12-79 years) involved in traffic accidents. The data came from 2 independent police databases: the accident registration system and a national database on offending. Descriptions of the accidents by the police were used to identify individuals who had displayed risky traffic behaviour contributing to or causing an accident, evidence of offending was based on a register of contacts with police. This methodology meant that there was no self-selection bias or self-report bias as may occur in survey data. Exposure to traffic accident risk was controlled for. Log-linear analyses, controlling for gender and age, revealed that persons who displayed risky traffic behaviour leading to the accident had an odds ratio of 2.6 for having a police record for violent crime; of 2.5 for vandalism, 1.5 for property crime, and 5.3 for having been involved in traffic crime. The results were consistent with the idea of a common factor underlying risk behaviour in traffic and criminal behaviour. (A)
Abstract