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

An attempt is made to obtain general information on the design and effectiveness of sanctions from a sample of ordinary British motorists. The major objectives were: (1) to investigate the consistency with which offences were ranked for seriousness, and (2) to identify any differences in absolute ratings of seriousness which might exist between different age/ sex sub-groupings of the driving population tested. Results showed a significant interaction between effects of the subject's age and sex on absolute ratings of seriousness.