Sanctions in traffic : scientific essays on sanctions in and outside traffic. This report discusses sanctions in traffic and other areas. The concept of sanctions refers to all possible measures falling under civil, administrative or penal law intended to influence behaviour. In our everyday life the concept of punishment or penalty is used more frequently. The concept of sanction is in fact broader than that of punishment as it also includes measures that mainly have an educational rather than a punitive aim. For instance, in the Netherlands an educational measure for traffic offenders resides under administrative law rather than penal law and is therefore, strictly legally speaking, not a penalty. This report is written for a broad audience and hence we prefer to use the common word punishment. Within the framework of behaviour change, a broad definition of punishment is used as an instrument of influencing undesired behaviour in a desired direction by linking negatively experienced consequences to the undesired behaviour. Punishments are the end point of an enforcement system which is part of the total traffic system. But are punishments effective? And what do we actually mean when we say that punishments are effective? And can the effects of punishments be improved upon? In answer to these questions, two essays have been written: one discussing punishment of traffic offenders and one dealing with punishment of young offenders. Both essays look at the effect of the type and the severity of a punishment. The second essay was written to investigate whether the world of traffic can learn something about this subject from other policy fields. The essays were reason to organize a discussion with experts to explore the differences and similarities between the policy areas of traffic and juvenile delinquency.
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