Drivers' attitudes to the seriousness of road traffic offences considered in relation to the design of sanctions.

A preliminary study of the consistency with which British motorists rank-order traffic offences for seriousness, and the absolute ratings of seriousness attacked to offences by different sub-groups of the population, is reported. There was a significantly high level of concordance among all subjects on the overall rank-ordering of offences for seriousness. However, there was a significant interaction between effects of the subject's age and sex on absolute ratings of seriousness.