1. Improving road policing through the use of partnership policing
Lyndel Bates and Levi Anderson
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Griffith Institute for Criminology, Griffith University
Road policing used to change driver behaviour and improve road safety (Bates, Soole & Watson, 2012)
Law Enforcement and Public Health Conference, Toronto, October 2018

2. Deterrence theory Deterrence Swiftness Certainty Severity
Road policing has traditionally relied on deterrence theory

3. Deterrence theory and drink driving
Random breath testing a good example of general deterrence
RBT often accompanied by media campaigns
Want to give the impression that if you drink and drive – you will be caught

4. RBT rate by state
Annual number of RBTs determined as a proportion (or ratio) of the annual number of licence holders
NSW – 1:1* ratio has been increasing
VIC – 1:3
QLD – 1:1
WA – 1:3* no ‘true’ rate
SA – 1:2
ACT – 1:3
TAS – 1.4:1
NT – 1:1
150K
650K
750K 3M
4.5M 1M
90K
660K
This data may be a little old (2013) now but it gives an indication of how many RBTs are completed throughout Australia
Different research has proposed different levels of RBTs to be conducted – typically as a function of licenced drivers
Homel – early 1:3 – 1988
Hendstridge and Home – move to 1:1 – 1997
SA – Wundersitz, Hiranandani, Baldock (2009)
Most states do not have a mandatory rate of RBTs
In Qld, a parliamentary committee recommended in 2006 that the RBT rate be increased, while maintaining best practice principles to 1:1 by 2000.

6. Since RBT introduced… Alcohol-related crashes have decreased
Increase in number of people who disapprove of drink driving
Australians support RBT programs
(Ferris, Mazerolle, King, Bates, Bennett & Devaney, 2013; Freeman & Watson, 2009; Watson & Freeman, 2007)

7. Does it always work?
Emerging body of research suggesting that it is not as effective for young drivers
US research suggests that 55% of young drivers have a recorded traffic offence within the first three years of driving

8. Young driver focus groups
Believed it was difficult for police to enforce GDL restrictions
Unaware of punishments
Exception was zero BAC
Yeah, how would anyone be influenced by the penalties because no one actually knows what they are, like you can’t be deterred by stuff you don’t know about [laughs]
(Truelove, Freeman & Davey, in press)
60 Qld young drivers did focus groups
Only knew about a punishment if they had been punished
Female quote

9. Young driver surveys Study 1 Study 2
Informal deterrence is more important than formal deterrence in predicting compliance
Shame was an important mediator
(Allen, Murphy & Bates, 2017)
Study 2
Parental enforcement important for transient offences
‘Emboldening effect’ from previously being exposed to enforcement
(Bates, Darvell & Watson, 2017)

10. Study 3
Perceived risk of arrest means less likely to infringe road rules
Perceived severity of sanctions does not affect non-compliance
Those on a restricted (intermediate) licence less likely to infringe road rules
Delinquent peers associated with greater levels of non-compliance
(Poirer, Blais & Faubert, 2018)
Study 3 is a Canadian study
Undergraduate university students
18-25 years old – mean age 20.98
About 25% had been involved in a crash as either a driver or passenger
26% had demerit points on their licence

11. Therefore….
We can’t assume that deterrence theory is the right theoretical basis for all enforcement

12. (Mazerolle, Higginson, & Eggins, 2016)
Third party policing
Key Concept 1: Use their Resources
Key Concept 2: May need Coercion
One option to improve enforcement is for police to partner with third parties.
Liquor licensing is a classic example of this
(Mazerolle, Higginson, & Eggins, 2016)

13. What if the legal lever isn’t strong enough?
BUT…..
What if the legal lever isn’t strong enough?

14. Partnership Policing Public Police Partners Target Population
Influence
A partnership between police and communities enables both to bring their relative strengths and capabilities to solve problems (Makin & Marenin, 2017).
Benefits of this type of policing include increased input from citizens, improving police-citizen interactions and a better understanding of the tasks undertaken by police (Dantzker, 2002).
It differs from third party policing which requires a legal lever where police can ‘force’ other agencies and individuals to undertake the enforcement actions (Mazerolle & Ransley, 2005).
General Police Response

15. Young drivers Public Police Parents Young Drivers Partnership
Influence
There appears to be strong potential for parents to more actively partner with police, for instance by actively monitoring their access to the family vehicle, given that young drivers appear more concerned about their parents finding out about their traffic infringements when compared with police officers (Allen, Murphy, & Bates, 2017).
Preliminary data from focus groups suggest there may also be value in partnering with insurance companies or licensing authorities
General Police Response

16. Work to date Interviews with parents in Queensland
2. Interviews with dyads in the ACT
3. Survey with parents & children in the ACT & Qld
Interviews with parents
Qualitative semi-structured interviews
16 parents of 18 provisionally licenced drivers
13 in their first year, and 5 in their second year, an even split of male and female children
Interviews with dyads (ACT)
Semi-structured phone interviews
Recruitment: RoadReady , social media, print media, and radio.
Participants:
16 parents (14 mothers, 2 fathers) of 26 children (12 female, 14 male; range 17 – 24).
11 provisional drivers participated (6 male, 5 female; aged 17 [n=8] and 18 [n=3]).
Online survey in ACT & Qld
Recruitment: RoadReady and Open University Australia , sporting clubs, social media, print media, radio and student participation
Parents – 76.2% female
Most aged between 40 and 60 years
Most parents had an undergraduate (21.8%) or postgraduate degree (40.6%)
Almost half had a reported family income of $120,001 or more
Young drivers – 76.5% female
Most aged years
Most still lived at home 67.4%
Most had their own vehicle 78%

17. Findings
Parents have an incomplete knowledge of the P-plate restrictions
Trust their young driver knows the rule
Interviews suggest parents impose complimentary restrictions
Survey suggests less than 15% impose additional rules

18. Findings (cont)
Parents more likely to believe that their child complied if they lived at home and were high in control
Parents more likely to impose restrictions if they were high in control
Parents teach values associated with safe driving, and believe it is the parents role to police this
Parents use a range of strategies to encourage safe driving

19. What does this mean for Third Party Policing?
Parents
Willing to be involved
Able to use resources (ie. emotions and knowledge of individual factors) not available to police
THEREFORE appear to have potential to be a ‘third party’ or ‘partner’

20. Conclusions
Initiatives based on deterrence principles (e.g. RBT) are effective
Can’t assume that deterrence theory is right for all interventions
Third party policing is an emerging area in road safety
Are we looking at partnership policing?
Exploratory work suggests there may be potential in the area of young drivers

21. References
Allen, S., Murphy, K., & Bates, L. (2017). What drives compliance? The effect of deterrence and shame emotions on young drivers’ compliance with road laws. Policing and Society, 27(8), doi: / Bates, L., Darvell, M., & Watson, B. (2017). Young and unaffected by road policing strategies: Using deterrence theory to explain provisional drivers’ (non)compliance. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 50(1), doi: / Ferris, J., Mazerolle, L., King, M., Bates, L., Bennett, S., & Devaney, M. (2013). Random breath testing in Queensland and Western Australia: Examination of how the random breath testing rate influences alcohol related traffic crash rates. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 60, 181– 188. doi:dx.doi.org/ /j.aap Freeman, J., & Watson, B. (2009). Drink driving deterrents and self-reported offending behaviours among a sample of Queensland motorists. Journal of Safety Research, 40, doi: /j.jsr Mazerolle, L., Higginson, A., & Eggins, E. (2016). Protocol: Third party policing for reducing crime and disorder: A systematic review. In Campbell Systematic Reviews. Poirier, B., Blais, E., & Faubert, C. (2018). Graduated driver licensing and differential deterrence: The effect of license type of intentions to violate road rules. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 110, doi:doi.org/ /j.aap Truelove, V., Freeman, J., & Davey, J. (in press). “you can’t be deterred by stuff you don’t know about”: Identifying factors that influence graduated driver licensing rule compliance. Safety Science. Watson, B., & Freeman, J. (2007). Perceptions and experiences of random breath testing in Queensland and the self-reported deterrent impact on drunk driving. Traffic Injury Prevention, 8(1), doi: /

22. Questions? L.Bates@griffith.edu.au
@DrLyndelBates