The most common sanction for most traffic offences in Sweden is a fine, but it is only one of several sanction options for society. If one is caught driving without a safety belt, and other similar minor traffic offences, the sanction is always a fine of fixed sum. For minor speeding offences a fixed sum is also charged. It is only for excessive speeding that a court may adjudge the confiscation of the driving license for a shorter or longer period. For drunken driving fines are not used at all. Instead a monetary fine, i.e. a fine assessed on the basis of the defendant’s daily income, will be administered, and if the drunken driving is deemed to be excessive the court may withdraw the driving license for a shorter or longer period. The question is what effect the precise size of a fine, i.e. the monetary amount, has for the prevention of crime. How do drivers evaluate the current fine sums, and when are they felt to be really heavy? The project documented here is a literature review on this topic. The result from the literature review shows that relatively few studies have addressed the effect of fines. Some studies have examined a combination of increased surveillance and fines, which makes it hard to separate the individual effect of a fine. The material surveyed in the review did, however, indicate that most studies reject the proposition that the size of the fine has a decisive importance. Several studies indicate that even a doubling of the fine, and heavy fines in general, have no effect whatsoever on speeding. Many studies show instead that to increase the fines or other sanctions has an effect only in combination with an increased risk of detection. Even if the drivers are aware of the increased sanctions they will not modify their behaviour in traffic unless they also at least subjectively perceive that the risk of detection is great. A number of studies even report on tests with alternatives to the customary monetary sanctions. These alternatives could be a warning, a so called penalty point system and information of one’s own speed. The warning can be in various forms: friendly or threatening, written in personal or formal language. The system based on penalty points may be such that if you get three points within a stipulated time period you have to undergo renewed theory and driving tests, and in the worst case the driving license is withdrawn. Information about one’s own speed was given when the driver was driving along a specified section of a road, and even if it was unlawful no other sanctions were inflicted. The results so far are tentative making it difficult to draw any firm conclusions, but the preliminary assessment of its effects on reported traffic offences is positive particularly with regard to the penalty point systems and information of the drivers’ own speed. (Author/publisher) This document is also available at http://www.vti.se/EPiBrowser/Publikationer/R574.pdf
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