Drivers' decisions on whether or not to speed are only partiallypredicted by attitudes towards speeding, beliefs about the consequences of speeding, and police efforts to enforce speed restrictions. This article proposes that a significant role may be played by drivers' comparisons of their own speed with that of other, nearby drivers. Such comparisons may lead to self-amplifying, nonintuitive consequences at the aggregate level. Several simple models of these socialcontagion processes are presented, and analytical strategies for tracing their implications are demonstrated. Some preliminary data suggesting that significant contagion effects exist are also presented.Fianlly, some promising directions for research on contagion effects are summarized, and their implications for enforcement efforts aretraced
Abstract