Facebook groups and pages exist that expose the locations of roadside drug testing, potentially undermining police enforcement and enabling punishment avoidance. This study aimed to understand how and why these sites are used, with a focus on Queensland motorists who reported using illicit drugs and/or medical cannabis and used Facebook police location communities. Interviews with 30 participants were conducted. A thematic analysis revealed that participants used police location communities to avoid receiving a charge for driving under the influence of drugs. Upon observation of a relevant roadside drug-testing location on police location communities, participants reported (a) delaying their driving and/or (b) circumventing the operation. Avoidance of roadside drug-testing locations appeared driven by the perception that laws for driving under the influence of drugs were unfair and that a charge for driving under the influence of drugs would negatively impact their life. The findings provide important knowledge regarding police location communities and have implications for how roadside drug testing could be most effectively operated.

The costs of work-related crashes In Australia and overseas, fleet safety or work-related road safety is an issue gaining increased attention from researchers, organisations, road safety practitioners and the general community. This attention is primarily in response to the substantial physical, emotional and economic costs associated with work-related road crashes. The increased risk factors and subsequent costs of work-related driving are also now well documented in the literature. For example, it is noteworthy that research has demonstrated that work-related drivers on average report a higher level of crash involvement compared to personal car drivers (Downs et al., 1999; Kweon and Kockelman, 2003) and in particular within Australia, road crashes are the most common form of work-related fatalities (Haworth et al., 2000).

Professional drivers and safety Within the industrialised world, work-related crashes are the most common cause of work-related death, injury and reduced productivity (Charbotel et al., 2001; Toscano and Windau, 1994). Likewise in Australia, road crashes are the most common cause of work-related fatalities, injuries and absence from work (Haworth et al., 2000), with the average time lost being greater than any other workplace claim (Stewart-Bogle, 1999). There are obvious costs related to work crashes such as vehicle and property repair costs. There are also many hidden expenses including third party costs, workers compensation, medical costs, rehabilitation, customer-related costs, increased insurance premiums, administrative costs, legal fees and loss of productivity (Collingwood, 1997; Haworth et al, 2000).

INTRODUCTION:Daily use of cannabis is increasing in Australia, yet there is limited understanding of the driving behaviours within this cohort, including how they perceive and manage the risks of being apprehended for drug driving and involved in a crash after consumption.METHODS:An online survey was completed by 487 Australians who reported daily cannabis use (30% medically prescribed patients, 58% male).RESULTS:Current drug driving (i.e., driving within 4 h of consuming cannabis each week) was reported by 86% of participants. Future drug driving was anticipated by 92% of the sample. While most participants (93%) disagreed that their risk of crash increased following cannabis use, participants reported that they would drive more carefully (89%), leave greater headway (79%) and/or drive slower (51%) following cannabis consumption. Half of the sample (53%) perceived the risk of apprehension for drug driving to be likely to some extent. Strategies to reduce the likelihood of being detected were used by 25% of participants, and included using Facebook police location sites (16%), driving on back roads (6%) and/or consuming substances to mask the presence of drugs (13%). The regression analysis revealed that individuals who reported more occasions of cannabis use per day, and who perceived that cannabis does not reduce driving ability, reported a greater extent of current drug driving.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:Interventions and education which aim to challenge this perception that 'cannabis does not reduce driving ability' may prove important for reducing drug driving among the most frequent consumers of cannabis.

INTRODUCTION:Enhancements to technology have transformed several aspects of road safety, communication, and connectivity. At the intersection of these, scholars have begun to speculate whether certain aspects of technology may provide motorists ways to engage in illegal and dangerous driving behaviors without consequences. Police traffic operations such as Roadside Drug Testing are intended to occur "anywhere, anytime" to communicate to motorists that they should not risk offending. A potential challenge for road safety is the emergence of Facebook police location pages and groups, where users can share the locations of police operations.METHOD:In this study, the authors examined two Facebook police location groups and three pages from Queensland (Australia) and conducted a content analysis of posts related to Roadside Drug Testing operations and a thematic analysis of comments on these posts. A total of 282 posts related to Roadside Drug Testing were identified between February and April 2021, with 1,823 comments made.RESULTS:The findings suggest that some users: (a) had lived experiences of avoiding punishment for drug driving; (b) remain unaware of how long to wait between drug consumption and driving; (c) perceived Roadside Drug Testing operations to be for the purpose of revenue raising; and (d) changed their driving behavior upon seeing an operation.CONCLUSIONS:These findings suggest consideration is needed regarding the responsibility of both Facebook, and the government, in allowing groups and pages to exist that undermine law enforcement.PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS:Regarding practice, the comments suggest that greater education is needed regarding "safe" times to drive after drug taking.

Objective This study aimed to explore the self-reported drink and drug driving behaviors of a sample of young drivers from Queensland (Australia) holding a learner license (N = 162, 27%), provisional 1 (P1) license (N = 251, 41.8%), or provisional 2 (P2) license (N = 188, 31.3%), as well as motorists’ corresponding perceptions about the likelihood of apprehension and their future intentions to offend.Methods The study involved 601 drivers aged between 16 and 24 years (302 males, 50.2% and 296 females, 49.3%) who all completed an online survey.Results Almost half the sample acknowledged engaging in drink and/or drug driving behaviors in the previous 12 months (N = 264, 44%), with a total of 773 drink driving and 8842 drug driving events reported. Offending was more common among P2 drivers (62% reported at least once), and least common among learner drivers (25% reported at least once). When predicting future drink driving and drug driving intentions, lower certainty of apprehension and greater past offending both emerged as significant predictors.Conclusions Young drivers may benefit from reminders throughout the GDL process regarding the laws and risks associated with impaired driving. Greater policing resources for drug and alcohol testing may be needed for young drivers, to establish a high certainty of apprehension, as early as possible in their driving experience.

Motorists can drive past a police roadside operation and share this location to a Facebook police location group or page within seconds. Several of these police location communities (PLCs) exist on Facebook, however the effect of these communities on perceptions of apprehension certainty and offending behaviour(s) remains unknown. This research aimed to explore this further, with a sample of N = 890 Queensland motorists (N = 350 females, N = 532 males) who acknowledged consuming either marijuana, methamphetamine or methylenedioxymethamphetamine in the previous 12 months. One quarter of the sample (N = 219) reported using PLCs, with 94 of these users (43%) reporting using PLCs to avoid Roadside Drug Testing (RDT) (PLC-avoid-RDT). Compared to the police location community (PLC) users who did not use the information to avoid RDT (N = 125), PLC-avoid-RDT users reported a greater level of past offending (75 vs 31 events in past 12 months), demonstrated a greater degree of disordered drug use (M = 16.93 vs 11.82 out of 44), had greater future intentions to offend ( "unlikely " to "likely " vs "unlikely " to "very unlikely "), viewed the posts more frequently (few times a week vs a few times a month), and perceived posts to be more accurate and reliable (6.57 vs 5.20 out of 10). This study provides preliminary evidence into the use (and effect) of PLCs among drug takers, and suggests that while these sites are not used by all offenders, a smaller proportion of motorists are using them with the intention of actively avoiding RDT.

Self-regulatory ability has been linked to a) the tendency to engage in risky behaviours, and b) the ability to focus attention. This study investigated the relationships between metacognitions, emotion regulation difficulties, risky driving behaviours, and attentional lapses on the road, among an online sample of Australian drivers (N = 255). Firstly, group comparisons showed that although females reported greater self-regulatory dysfunction, males reported a higher frequency of risky driving behaviours. Alternatively, older drivers reported being better self-regulators, and less-frequent risky driving behaviours and attentional lapses on the road. Secondly, correlations demonstrated that metacognitions were associated with difficulties in regulating emotions, the engagement of risky driving behaviours, and the quantity of attentional lapses experienced on the road. Emotion regulation difficulties and risky driving behaviours were also shown to be positively related to the frequency of attentional lapses. Structural equation modelling confirmed a hierarchical model in predicting attentional lapses, with self-regulatory components representing higher-order factors over risky behavioural components. Finally, metacognitions demonstrated mediative effects toward the relationship between prior speeding experiences and future intentions to speed. This study has provided preliminary evidence for the application of metacognitions in the engagement of risky driving behaviours, and therefore the potential for informing future interventions.

Background/objectives With the increasing popularity and saliency of social media, there is a pressing need to identify whether exposure to such content can affect road rule compliance, especially given that social media has been found to influence other risky behaviours. This systematic review (conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines) summarised existing evidence concerning: (a) the nature of driving-related content on social media and (b) whether such content can influence attitudes and subsequent driving behaviour. Methods Peer-reviewed articles written in English, that explored social media content in relation to road safety or driving behaviours (e.g., speeding, tailgating, distraction, impaired driving, and seatbelt use), were eligible for review. Searches were conducted via SCOPUS, PUBMED, ProQuest and TRID in June 2021. Results/discussion A total of 8 studies met the requirements for this study, resulting in three key findings. First, it was found that very few studies have explored the type and extent of driving-related content on social media, and the small collection of existing research has focused solely on YouTube and Twitter. Second, whilst the nature of driving-related content on social media varies substantially across studies, a body of content exists that promotes or encourages risky driving behaviour or road rule violations. Third, and despite the array of available online content, there is a paucity of research illuminating the impact of social media messages on attitudes towards, and behaviours linked to road safety. This review highlights the need for research to keep pace with the rapidly changing nature of social media (not least the impacts upon human behaviour) and outlines pathways to increase current scientific understanding.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine whether drivers who had received more traffic infringements were more likely to be at fault for the crash in which they were killed. Method: The current dataset was derived from the crash and traffic history records provided by the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads and Coroner's Court for every driver, with available records, who was killed in a crash in Queensland, Australia, between 2011 and 2019 (N = 1,136). The most common traffic offenses in the current sample were speeding, disobeying road rules, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and unlicensed driving. Logistic regression models were used to compute odds ratios for the number of overall offenses, the number of specific offense types, and for specific offending profiles that were derived from the literature. Age, gender, and crash type were each controlled for by entering them into the initial blocks of the regression models. Results: After accounting for the variance associated with age, gender, and crash type, only the overall number of offenses and the number of unlicensed driving offenses predicted a significant change in a drivers' likelihood of being at fault for the crash that killed them. Furthermore, drivers who were identified as having versatile (i.e., multiple offenses from different categories) or criminal-type offense profiles (i.e., offenses that were considered to approximate criminal offenses) were each significantly more likely to be at fault for a fatal crash. Practical Applications: This study provided an important contribution by demonstrating how a more nuanced approach to understanding how a driver's traffic history might be used to identify drivers who are more at risk of being involved in a crash (i.e., for which they were at fault). The implications of these findings are discussed with recommendations and consideration for future research.(c) 2022 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction: Maximizing the deterrent effects of Roadside Drug Testing (RDT) operations remains critical for improving road safety. While preliminary research has explored the impact of being tested at RDT sites, there is yet to be an investigation of different types of exposure (e.g., seeing an operation, being tested) and the subsequent relationship(s) with perceptions of certainty of apprehension and future intentions to offend. The overall objective of this research was to explore these relationships with a sample of drug takers. Method: A total of 803 Queensland motorists aged between 16 and 75 (M = 27.12, SD =13.09) completed an online-based survey, and all reported consuming marijuana, MDMA, and/or methamphetamine at least once in the previous 12 months. A convenience sampling method was utilized (via Facebook). Results: The drug driving proportion of the sample (58%) reported a total of 30,858 instances of drug driving, or 66 instances on average. Seeing RDT in the previous 12 months (26% of sample) was more common than being tested at RDT (7%). The results indicated that seeing RDT two or more times was related to increased certainty of apprehension (compared to those who had seen it only once or never), although the increase was relatively small. Correlational analyses suggest there were some positive (albeit weak relationships) between exposure to RDT (seen and tested) and past and future offending. However, only three significant predictors of future offending emerged: older age, lower perceptions of apprehension certainty, and greater use of marijuana. Practical Applications: The results illuminate the extent of the drug driving problem and the need for greater resourcing to increase the real threat of detection. While the effect of exposure to enforcement was small, it was positive, incremental and supportive of increased roadside police enforcement as well as further research to quantify such deterrent processes. (c) 2021 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction: While research has reported on overall prevalence rates of drug driving, the extent of recidivist offending has yet to be explored. The objective of this research was to examine recidivistic behaviors detected through Roadside Drug Testing (RDT) in Queensland (between December 2007 and June 2020), with a focus on: Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), 3,4-Methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA), and methamphetamine (MA). Method: Data were provided by the Queensland Police Service, and contained information on positive drug detections that were confirmed via laboratory analysis. Results: The analyses revealed 50,442 unique offenders with a total of 67,727 offenses, as 25% (N= 12,490) of all offenders had been apprehended more than once (ranging from 2 to 11 offences). MA use was more common among recidivist offenders, whereas THC was more common for those with one offense. On average, the days between offenses decreased with increases in offense number. Conclusions: The findings provide evidence for the extent of drug driving recidivism on Queensland roads. Practical applications: To deter recidivists and the greater motorist population from drug driving, there is need for greater resources dedicated to RDT to increase both the perceived and real likelihood of detection.(c) 2022 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction: Research demonstrates that young drivers exceed the posted speed limit more frequently than older drivers, and this demographic is also subsequently overrepresented in road crash statistics. This behavior remains a worldwide problem despite legal enforcement efforts that have proven to have limited efficiency and/or produce counterintuitive results.Method: Consequently, this study undertook a qualitative analysis in order to understand the factors that are perceived to both prevent and promote speeding behavior among young drivers, guided by self-determination theory (SDT). Focus groups were conducted with a total of 60 young drivers aged 17-25 years. An inductive thematic analysis approach was taken to analyze the data.Results: Findings revealed the following factors influence the prevention of speeding: (1) legal consequences were perceived to deter low-level speeding, (2) fear of injury was believed to prevent high-level speeding, and (3) speed awareness monitors were considered to be an effective countermeasure. Meanwhile, factors perceived to contribute to violating speed restrictions included: (1) perceiving it is safe to do so, (2) a perceived norm to speed, (3) emotions, and (4) unintentional speeding. According to SDT, the factors that were perceived to prevent speeding promote externalized self-regulatory processes and are therefore limited by short-term behavior change.Practical Applications: The findings have important implications for designing countermeasures aimed at young drivers, not least illuminating the need to have education and media campaigns that target and build drivers' perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness in relation to speeding in order to promote longer term compliance.(c) 2022 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Objective The aim of the current study was to compare the traffic histories of drivers fatally injured in a road traffic crash, to alive drivers of the same age and gender in order to determine if key markers of increased fatality-risk could be identified.Methods The case sample comprised 1,139 (82% male) deceased drivers, while the control sample consisted of 1,139 registered Queensland drivers (who were individually matched to the case sample on age and gender).Results Using a logistic regression model, and adjusting for age and gender, it was found that a greater number of offenses predicted greater odds of fatal crash involvement, with each increase in offense frequency category increasing ones' odds by 1.98 (95% CI: 1.8, 2.18). When each offense type was considered individually, dangerous driving offenses were most influential, predicting a 3.44 (95% CI: 2, 5.93) increased odds of being in the case group, followed by the following offense types: learner/provisional (2.88, 95% CI: 1.75, 4.74), drink and drug driving (2.82, 95% CI: 1.97, 4.04), not wearing a seatbelt/helmet (2.63, 95% CI: 1.53, 4.51), licensing offenses (1.87, 95% CI: 1.41, 2.49), and speeding (1.48, 95% CI: 1.33, 1.66). In contrast, mobile phone and road rules offenses were not identified as significant predictors.Conclusion The findings indicate that engagement in a range of aberrant driving behaviors may result in an increased odds of future fatal crash involvement, which has multiple implications for the sanctioning and management of apprehended offenders.

Road rage is a serious issue impacting road safety on Australian roads. This study investigated the psychological antecedents involved in aggressive driver behaviours. Specifically, the study investigated the relationships between metacognitive beliefs, anger rumination, trait driver anger, and driver aggression; and examined the extent of aggressive behaviours in a sample of Australian drivers (N = 246). An inspection of cross-tabulations indicated that nearly all drivers engaged in verbal driver aggression (94%), approximately half of the drivers engaged in vehicle aggression (53%), and approximately a quarter of the drivers engaged in physical aggression (27%). Driver aggression was more commonly reported from males, open licensed, and middle-aged drivers. Structural path analysis indicated that there was a hierarchical series of relationships present, in that metacognitive beliefs influenced cognitive constructs such as anger rumination and constructive expression. Additionally, such factors were shown to more prominently influence trait driver anger, and the degree to which it was expressed. Bivariate correlations also demonstrated that the relationships carried forward to more specific dimensions of anger rumination and driver aggression styles. The findings of this study may assist to identify the origins of psychological mechanisms involved with anger progression and expression and inform potential interventions for aggressive driving behaviours.

Enhancements to technology have transformed several aspects of road safety, communication, and connectivity. At the intersection of these, scholars have begun to speculate whether technology continues to benefit the landscape of road safety or whether some aspects of technology have enabled the unsafe to become undetected. Police traffic operations such as Roadside Drug Testing (RDT) are intended to occur "anywhere, anytime" to communicate to motorists that they should not risk offending. A potential challenge for road safety is the emergence of Facebook police location (PL) pages and groups, where users can share the locations of police operations. In this study, we examined two Facebook PL groups and three PL pages from Queensland (Australia) and conducted a content analysis of posts related to RDT operations and a thematic analysis of comments on these posts. A total of 282 posts related to RDT were identified across these sites in three months (Feb-April 2021), with a total of 1,823 comments made. The findings suggest that some users: (1) had lived experiences of avoiding punishment for drug driving, (2) remain unaware of how long to wait between drug consumption and driving, (3) perceived RDT operations to be for the purpose of revenue raising and (4) changed their driving behaviour upon seeing an operation. These findings have implications for the operation of RDT and suggest more is needed to educate drug takers on safe driving behaviours.

An upward trend in drug driving has been observed in several countries around the world. Research suggests that younger drivers are more likely to engage in drug driving compared to older drivers. There is also evidence to suggest young drivers differ from older drivers in their capacity for self-regulation. Despite this, research has yet to explore the impact of age on the self-regulatory processes with regard to decisions to drug drive among drug users. A total of 507 Queensland drivers (72.8% female), who reported ever taking an illegal drug, were involved in the research. Participants completed an online questionnaire, which col-lected demographic and drug consumption information, as well as items assessing the self-regulatory processes influencing drug driving, and drug driving behaviour. Regardless of age, participants reported a tendency towards internalised regulation. However, results suggest that young drivers (aged 18-24 years) feel greater belongingness to people who promote safe transport decisions after taking drugs, compared to drivers aged 25 years and over. Interaction effects revealed that for young drug takers, feeling greater related-ness, along with perceiving competence and importance in planning alternative transport after taking drugs, can be protective against drug driving behaviours. Significant predictors of drug driving were lower relatedness, greater perceived pressure to drug drive, lower effort/importance to plan safe alternatives after taking drugs, being of older age, and greater drug abuse. Counterintuitively, perceiving more options (choice) to take alternative transport after taking drugs also predicted the offending behaviour. The results of this study suggest that enhancing drivers' competency to make (and value) safe driving deci-sions is a critical step for road safety. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Background: While attempts to identify the mechanisms to effectively deter drink driving remains a central focus for road safety researchers, scant scientific enquiry has simultaneously examined perceptions of apprehension risk in combination with substance abuse. This may be considered a significant oversight given that such constructs may create opposing forces, or alternatively, alcohol abuse and punishment avoidance may create cumulative effects and promote offending behaviours. Method: This paper reports on an investigation of 718 Queensland motorists' self-reported perceptions of classical and reconceptualised deterrence constructs (as well as alcohol consumption) in order to determine what factors have the greatest effect on promoting drink driving, particularly alcohol consumption or punishment avoidance. The sample completed an online or paper version of the questionnaire. Results: "Possible" drink driving events were slightly more common (25.5%) than "acknowledged" drink driving events (16.6%). Future intentions to drink and drive (23.4%) were more common among those who reported an "acknowledged" drink driving event (63.5% reported future intentions to drink drive) than a "possible" drink driving event (47.5%). Sequential binary logistic regression models conducted for each drink driving category revealed that having "risky" drinking behaviour and both direct personal and indirect experience of punishment for a drink driving offence were predictors of "possible" drink driving events. Similarly, "acknowledged" drink driving had the same significant predictors with the addition of increases in age and punishment severity reducing the likelihood of drink driving and direct punishment avoidance having a positive effect. However, and importantly, only direct punishment avoidance and past "possible" and "acknowledged" drink driving events predicted future intentions to offend in the final model, which further reinforces that drink driving is a deliberate decision (rather than stemming primarily from impairment). Practical applications: The findings provide support for increased policing efforts to identify drink drivers. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Common method variance (CMV) has received little attention within the field of road safety research despite a heavy reliance on self-report data. Two surveys were completed by 214 motorists over a two-month period, allowing associations between social desirability and key road safety variables and relationships between scales across the two survey waves to be examined. Social desirability was found to have a strong negative correlation with the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) sub-scales as well as age, but not with crashes and offences. Drivers who scored higher on the social desirability scale were also less likely to report aberrant driving behaviours as measured by the DBQ. Controlling for social desirability did not substantially alter the predictive relationship between the DBQ and the crash and offences variables. The strength of the correlations within and between the two waves were also compared with the results strongly suggesting that effects associated with CMV were present. Identification of CMV would be enhanced by the replication of this study with a larger sample size and comparing self-report data with official sources.

Abstract Objective In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions were implemented, however, data indicates road crash rates have not decreased proportionately to the decline in traffic density. This study explored how speeding and phone use while driving (road behaviors associated with a high crash risk) changed as a result of COVID-19 restrictions in Queensland. Methods Two cross-sectional studies were conducted in Queensland, Australia to examine self-reported changes in speeding and phone use while driving before, during and after the easing of restrictions (while also considering exposure to the road and driving location). Study 1 (n = 351) was conducted between 12 May and 12 June 2020, when the majority of COVID-19 restrictions were enforced. Study 2 (n = 427) was conducted between 24 June and 12 August 2020, when restrictions were easing. Results The findings indicated, overall, self-reported speeding and phone use significantly decreased during restrictions (likely due to reduced travel), but not for those who continued to drive regularly. There was an additional, significant self-reported decrease in phone use while driving after restrictions were eased when compared to engagement during restrictions, which may (in part) be due to the simultaneous introduction of roadside mobile phone detection cameras. Conclusion These findings highlight the importance of visible deterrence and provide a glimpse of possible consequences if there is a more sustained reduction in policing presence on roads.