Project 15-7D: Develop Ten Percenters Program
A group of persistent offenders has been identified in relation to many road safety issues, for example, drinking and driving, speeding and red light running. They are typically referred to as high-risk drivers (HRDs) or hard core offenders. These HRDs are often described as a relatively small group of persistent traffic violators (usually less than 10% of all drivers). Some research has been conducted on HRDs. While the actual percent represented by this group in a particular traffic safety problem varies somewhat, it is nevertheless convenient from a communication perspective to refer to them collectively as "ten percenters." It is believed that these persistent offenders are responsible for a significant portion of the serious injury and fatal collisions on the highways. However, the HRD problem has not, until recently, received much attention; thus data on the dimensions of the problem are limited. This I-95 Corridor Coalition Project identifies the magnitude and characteristics of the HRD problem and provides an inventory of effective traffic safety programs that can be implemented across the I-95 Corridor.

Procurement Agency: Safety Program Track
Project Contact: Capt. Tom Martin, I-95 Corridor Coalition

Project 15-7D: Develop Ten Percenters Program
The objective of the project was to produce a set of recommendations for dealing effectively with the ten percenters.

View Word file of Scope of Project 15-7D: Develop Ten Percenters Program

The project tasks are systematically and strategically organized to answer a set of key questions:

• Who are the ten percenters and to what extent do they contribute to traffic safety problems?
• Are there differences in the extent and characteristics of the problem across member states in the I-95 corridor?
• What safety strategies and programs are currently in place to deal with them, both within coalition states as well as other states and countries?
• What are best practices for dealing effectively with these persistent offenders?

Project 15-7D: Develop Ten Percenters Program

Report Name	Report
Project Introduction	View
Working Group Introductory Memo	View
Task 2 - Definition and Bibliography	View
Task 3 - Interim Report -- Magnitude and Characteristics of the Ten Percenters Problem	View
Task 4 - Survey of Current Practices	View
Safety Track Webinar on Safety Data Analysis and High Risk Drivers – Best Practices for Effective Traffic Safety Programs, April 22, 2010	View
Final Report, July 22, 2010	View

Project 15-7D: Develop Ten Percenters Program

Methodology

• To gain a better understanding of the magnitude and characteristics of the ten percenters or HRD problem, the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) analyzed state crash data, state driver record data and national crash data.
• For the purposes of the analyses a HRD was defined as a driver who had a BAC of 0.16% or above at the time of the crash, or refused to provide a breath sample, or has been involved in three distinct events (violations or crashes) in the previous 3-year period. These events include: impaired driving offenses, speed violations, other types of moving violations, previously recorded crash(es), or license suspensions. It should be noted that each state data system contains different variables which were used to identify HRDs. As such, it is difficult to make very accurate comparisons between States.
• Three separate sets of analyses were conducted as part of this study. The first two sets of analyses used national data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. A limitation of the first analysis with the FARS data was a large number of cases with missing BAC values. As a consequence, drivers could be identified as high-risk using all of the agreed to criteria except BAC. To overcome this problem, the second set of analyses created a BAC value where it was missing using multiple imputations. The third set of analyses relied on driver record data from FL, VA, and GA to estimate the magnitude of the HRD problem using the same definition.

Data Analysis Results

• The first analyses using FARS data with missing BAC values revealed that, in total, approximately 14% of drivers involved in fatal collisions were considered to be HRDs. The percentage ranged from a low of 3% in the District of Columbia to a high of 19% in New Jersey.
• The I-95 Coalition states and the District of Columbia were further grouped into five regions: New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut), North (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey), Central (Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia), South (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia) and Florida. There was not much variation in the magnitude of the problem according to region. The extent of the problem ranged from a low of 12.67% in New England up to 14.72% in the Central region.
• To address the limitation of having many missing cases for the BAC and/or breath test refusal variable in FARS for the first set of analyses, multiple imputation was used to create sound statistical estimates for the missing BAC values. 
• This second analysis including BAC values found that, in total, approximately 25% of drivers involved in fatal collisions were considered to be HRDs. The percentage ranged from a low of 15% in the District of Columbia to a high of 33% in Connecticut. Again, there was not much variation in the magnitude of the problem according to region. The extent of the problem ranged from a low of 22.63% in Florida up to 26.77% in New England.
• In summary, both the first and second set of analyses generally showed that HRDs were more commonly involved in single vehicle collisions where the vehicle ran off the road and hit a fixed object. Drivers in these collisions tended to be male, aged 21-34, unbelted, speeding, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and were likely to have an invalid license. Collisions most often occurred on weekends, at night, and when it was dark.
• Using the available state driver record data, it was found that the percentage of HRDs was 2.35% in Florida, 0.08% in Virginia, and 0.35% in Georgia.
• Florida’s state driver record data contained information about charges for high-risk driving behaviors. However, for Virginia and Georgia, the data contained information about convictions rather than charges for high-risk driving behaviors. It is possible that the percentage of HRDs was higher in Florida (2.35%) than in Virginia and Georgia (0.08% and 0.35% respectively) because its database contains charges and not all charges result in convictions. Florida also contained information pertaining to BAC, whereas the other two state driver record systems did not.
• When comparing the state data results to those based on the FARS crash data it becomes clear that a small percentage of drivers qualify as a HRD but this minority of drivers is involved in a large proportion of crashes.

Survey Results

• Based on the above results of the data analyses an international survey was constructed to identify programs focusing on HRDs who are responsible for a significant portion of serious injury and fatal collisions, as revealed by the crash analyses.
• Many jurisdictions have programs that specifically address high-risk impaired drivers. These include laws and enforcement strategies, educational programs, and rehabilitation programs. Some jurisdictions also had programs which addressed HRDs with multiple convictions and collisions. These programs include laws and enforcement strategies, defensive driving courses, and driver retraining courses. 
• The survey revealed a number of innovative programs inside the I-95 Corridor that were designed to target HRDs such as Florida’s Operation Round-Up or Rhode Island’s You Drink & Drive You Lose. Similarly, a number of other jurisdictions outside of the Corridor also have implemented interesting HRD programs, for example HRD specific defensive driving courses in British Columbia and the North-West Territories and California’s use of electronic enforcement. 
• Only a few of these programs had been evaluated. It was challenging to access program evaluations in some instances as the evaluation was ongoing, was not publicly available, or was not accessible. Few evaluations have been published in peer reviewed journals and many of the evaluations were process oriented.

Conclusions

This project focused on small groups of persistent traffic violators – i.e., the so-called ten percenters -- who are responsible for a significant portion of the serious injury and fatal collisions on the highways. The primary goal of the project was to identify effective means for addressing the ten percenters to improve safety for the motoring public across the I-95 Corridor. The goal of the project was to produce a set of best practices for state DOTs, criminal justice agencies and other safety organizations for dealing effectively with the various small groups of persist ent violators. The magnitude of the problem was examined, along with states' current practices. Following a webcast on Best Practices, the Final Report delineating the various project segments and results, and these Best Practices, was issued.

Project 15-7D: Develop Ten Percenters Program
Project completed.

No data.