Traffic Violator Courses: What and Whether

Approximately 48,000 multiple traffic offenders were randomly assigned to a Traffic Survival School (TSS) teaching defensive driving procedures and a Traffic Violator School (TVS) attempting to alter conditions leading to traffic offenses. Over the year following assignment to course, offenders participating in the TVS experienced 8 percent fewer fiolations and 20 percent fewer accidents than those participating in the TSS. However, offenders who did not participate in either course, and had licenses suspended, experienced 26 percent fewer violations and 51 percent accidents than course participants, an outcome attributed both to suspension itself and the possibility that offenders electing suspension were less dependent upon their cars and tended to drive less.