The connection of the experience of involvement in traffic accidents with the punishable behavior of traffic participants

This paper was written as part of the research project "Research of public opinion on the state of safety, behaviour and habits of participants in road traffic in the Republic of Croatia". The goal of this research is to determine the frequency of violations of traffic regulations related to drivers, pedestrians and passengers in vehicles, and to determine whether there is a connection between the experience of suffering of the aforementioned road users and their punishable behaviour. For this purpose, a quantitative research was conducted in which a multi-method approach was used in field data collection, a combination of telephone research (CATI) - 60% of the sample and online research (CAWI) - 40% of the sample. Respondents from the entire territory of the Republic of Croatia (N=2072) over the age of 16 were included in the research. In general, it can be concluded that the violation of traffic regulations is very frequent and present among the majority of different road users, and that road users who have recently experienced a traffic accident in any capacity, very rarely violate traffic regulations, as car drivers. Conversely, involvement in traffic accidents has not been shown to deter pedestrians and vehicle occupants from repeating traffic violations. The obtained results have a practical value, especially in the context of planning preventive programs and strategies, while the limitations of the research are reflected in the fact that only one independent variable was included in the correlation with committing traffic violations, regardless of other known predictors of punishable behaviour in traffic.