The effort described in this report began in 2008, when NHTSA initiated research to explore the possibility that informative archival data on recent immigrants and seat belt use might be available at the State level. Phase I found that only three States, California, Florida, and Tennessee, keep pertinent information. Traffic citation records in these States contain information on the drivers’ violation, and also on their residency status, age, gender, race, and ethnicity. Residency status data were readily available on four traffic violations, (1) seat belt violations, (2) DWI, (3) speeding, and (4) failure-to-obey traffic signs or signals. Because of the large datasets in Florida and Tennessee, separate analyses for Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic drivers allowed a closer look at the two principal racial and ethnic groups involved in immigration trends in the country. Florida is a traditional destination for Hispanic immigrants, many of Cuban descent. Tennessee on the other hand, has recently become a destination for Hispanic immigrants of diverse heritage. Because of the different demographic patterns and datasets in Florida and Tennessee, separate analyses were performed for each State. The findings show that gender and age were predictors for traffic violation rates. Male drivers and young drivers under 21 were more likely to be cited for traffic violations than drivers 21 and older, but age was not a contributing factor in DWI among Asian/PI drivers in Florida or Tennessee. Although the reason for this age difference is not clear, what is clear is that the role of race, ethnicity, and residency status varied across the four traffic violations. For residency status overall, the more established a driver is in the country, the more likely he/she would be involved in traffic violations. Overall, drivers who were citizens were more likely to be cited for traffic violations than those who are not citizens, but such a generalization varies depending on the type of violation, the driver’s racial and ethnic group, and the State. U.S. citizens in Florida and Tennessee had significantly more citations for seat belt violations than drivers with the most recent residency status, which was observed among both Asian/PI and Hispanic drivers. A similar pattern was observed regarding speeding and failure-to-obey violations. Broadly speaking, U.S. citizens were also cited for these violations at a significantly higher rate than drivers of the most recent residency status. The residency status of Asian/PI drivers in Florida however, was not associated with failure-to-obey citations. Reasons for this finding are unknown. On one hand, this finding seems to suggest that Asian/PI drivers as a whole were more likely to obey traffic signals than drivers of any other group regardless of their residency status. This conclusion needs to be taken with caution because of the relative small number of Asian/PI drivers in Florida. The data suggest that those who have come recently to the country are less likely to be cited for seat belt, speeding, and failure-to-obey violations than more established drivers; but as time goes by and immigrant drivers become more established, they begin to resemble established citizens in terms of the likelihood of being ticketed for these traffic violations. For these drivers, factors such as age or gender seem to contribute to their likelihood of being cited for seat belt, speeding, or failure-to-obey violations, more than residency status. A more complex pattern emerged for DWI violations. On one hand, the pattern of involvement in DWI violations in Tennessee was similar to seat belt, speeding, and failure-to-obey violations: recent Asian or Hispanic immigrants to Tennessee were less likely to be cited for DWI than more established Asian or Hispanic drivers. This was not the case in Florida where recent Hispanic immigrants were more likely to be cited for DWI than more established Hispanic drivers. There were no differences in DWI arrests by residency status among Asian/PI drivers in Florida. The difference in drinking and driving violations that recent Hispanic immigrants show in Florida and Tennessee underscore the variations that exist within racial and ethnic groups, especially in different areas of the country. Hispanics are not a homogeneous group. Researchers have offered several explanations for such divergence. A relatively large proportion of Hispanics in Florida are of Cuban descent (Pew Hispanic Center, 2010b), while in Tennessee, most of the Hispanics are of Mexican origin (Pew Hispanic Center, 2010a). It could be argued that the observed difference in DWI citations among recent immigrants in Florida and Tennessee is related to differences in the drinking patterns in the countries of origin of Hispanic immigrants to each of the two States. The literature depicts Cuban-American drivers as less likely to drink and drive than their Mexican-American counterparts (e.g., Caetano, 1993). Patterns of alcohol consumption and drinking-and-driving for recent Hispanic immigrants in Florida may resemble those in their countries of origin more than those in Tennessee. Hispanic immigrants from countries in which drinking and drinking-and-driving are common may take longer to understand that DWI is not tolerated in America. Citation patterns in both States suggests that as Hispanic immigrants adapted to American mainstream norms, their seat belt use and speeding behavior became more like that of “mainstream” drivers. The odds of being cited for a speeding violation in Tennessee did not follow a one-to-one relationship with residency status. Hispanics in Tennessee who were naturalized citizens were more likely to receive a speeding citation than those who were born in the United States. One suggestion is that because Tennessee is a more recent destination for immigrants, the population of Hispanics who are naturalized citizens is younger with a larger proportion of males than those who are U.S.-born. Because being both young and male tends to increase the frequency of speeding violations, but the observed differences were not statistically significant. Residency status was not a factor in the likelihood of Asian/PI Florida drivers’ involvement in DWI or failure-to-obey violations. This finding may suggest that Asian/PI drivers in Florida were more observant of these traffic laws and regulations than drivers of any other racial and ethnic group. The survival analyses support the bivariate and logistic regression analyses among the different groups of drivers, four traffic violations, and two States. The survival analyses evaluated which traffic violations were likely to be committed first by the different groups of newly licensed drivers. Among the four traffic violations under consideration, speeding is most often the first one to occur. Both in Florida and Tennessee, 1% of the drivers were cited for a speeding violation within three months of licensure for drivers of all residency statuses. The three other traffic violations appeared later in the driving life. Temporary residents in Florida took more than four and a half years for 1% to be arrested for a DWI violation. Although non-resident aliens in Florida were less likely to receive a seat belt violation than more established drivers, they had the shortest period of time until 1% were cited for a belt violation. However, they then showed the longest period until reaching the 5% mark. In summary, this study provides information about the involvement of recent immigrants in seat belt nonuse, DWI, speeding, and failure-to-obey traffic violations in Florida and Tennessee. The hypothesis that recent immigrants were more likely to be involved in any of four traffic violations than more established drivers was not supported. Immigrants differing in country of origin and U.S. State of residence displayed different degrees of involvement across the traffic violations. It is unknown whether these findings apply beyond the two States examined here. This study shows that besides some broad generalizations (e.g., the first traffic-related event of recent immigrants tend to involve speeding), recent immigrants’ traffic safety behaviors vary in the two States under consideration. Programs developed to assist recent immigrants should consider the countries of organ as they relate to U.S. traffic safety laws and expectations. The first three years are the most hazardous for Hispanics who recently immigrated to Florida in terms of impaired driving. In other areas, the traffic safety records of recent immigrants were better than that of U.S residents for three offences: speeding, failure to wear a seat belt, and failure to obey traffic signals. As immigrants become fully adapted to their American communities, they begin to drive, and receive tickets, like everyone else in their community. The information obtained through this research has some limitations: (1) The data used in this study only came from two states and the findings may not be applicable to other regions of the country; (2) Identification of recent immigrant status was achieved only through a proxy, using residency status as a measure of “time since immigration;” (3) Individuals who drive outside of the licensing system are not included. Unlicensed drivers, drivers with non-valid licenses, and illegal immigrants are not reported in the traffic-citation records that were reviewed for this study, and the findings may not be applicable to that portion of risky drivers. (Author/publisher)
Abstract