Bulletin of the World Health Organization

Effect on road traffic injuries of criminalizing road traffic offences: a time–series study

Ana M Novoa, Katherine Pérez, Elena Santamariña-Rubio & Carme Borrell

Volume 89, Number 6, June 2011, 422-431

Table 3. Adjusted relative risks (RRs)a of drivers having collisions involving injury to self or others before and after penal code reform,b by sex, driver injury severity, type of road user, road type and time of collision, Spain, 2000–2009

Men
 Women
All drivers
 Seriously or fatally injured drivers
 All drivers
 Seriously or fatally injured drivers
Monthly median RR 95% CI Monthly median RR 95% CI Monthly median RR 95% CI Monthly median RR 95% CI
Overall 10 876 0.93*** 0.89–0.97 NA NA NA 2560 0.99 0.95–1.03 NA NA NA
Driver injury severity
Unharmed 4527 0.97 0.92–1.02 NA NA NA 900 0.99 0.93–1.06 NA NA NA
Slight 4431 0.92*** 0.88–0.96 NA NA NA 1352 0.99 0.95–1.04 NA NA NA
Serious 986 0.86*** 0.81–0.93 NA NA NA 167 0.93 0.83–1.04 NA NA NA
Fatal 181 0.89*** 0.81–0.97 NA NA NA 18 0.82 0.64–1.05 NA NA NA
Age (years)
14–15 76 0.80*** 0.70–0.91 17 0.82 0.63–1.08 15 0.77 0.58–1.01 2 0.69 0.30–1.60
16–17 281 0.81*** 0.74–0.88 54 0.91 0.78–1.06 43 0.87 0.73–1.04 5 0.71 0.44–1.17
18–29 3705 0.87*** 0.83–0.91 408 0.80*** 0.74–0.86 986 0.96 0.91–1.04 73 0.91 0.80–1.03
30–44 3547 0.91*** 0.87–0.94 363 0.83*** 0.77–0.89 937 0.96 0.91–1.01 60 0.92 0.80–1.01
45–64 2288 0.92*** 0.88–0.95 224 0.88** 0.81–0.97 427 0.94* 0.89–1.00 32 0.90 0.76–1.07
65–74 423 0.98 0.92–1.04 56 0.95 0.81–1.11 42 1.12 0.97–1.31 4 1.65* 1.01–2.72
75+ 163 0.99 0.91–1.08 27 1.01 0.84–1.21 12 1.19 0.94–1.51 1 0.82 0.36–1.86
Type of driver by road type
Urban road
All drivers 5665 0.94* 0.90–1.00 296 0.88** 0.81–0.96 1416 0.99 0.93–1.05 48 0.94 0.79–1.11
Car drivers 3254 0.99 0.94–1.04 66 0.97 0.82–1.14 1010 1.02 0.96–1.09 17 1.02 0.76–1.36
Motorcycle riders 637 0.83*** 0.77–0.90 81 0.82** 0.72–0.93 69 0.85** 0.76–0.95 4 0.92 0.64–1.34
Moped riders 968 0.86*** 0.80–0.92 127 0.85* 0.75–0.97 266 0.91* 0.84–0.99 22 0.81 0.63–1.03
Non-urban road
All drivers 5170 0.83*** 0.79–0.88 866 0.82*** 0.77–0.88 1139 0.88*** 0.83–0.94 138 0.89* 0.80–0.98
Car drivers 3404 0.87*** 0.82–0.93 479 0.89** 0.82–0.97 1033 0.88*** 0.83–0.94 115 0.87 0.80–1.00
Motorcycle riders 314 0.71*** 0.64–0.78 131 0.70*** 0.62–0.79 11 0.80 0.60–1.06 3 0.88 0.54–1.43
Moped riders 270 0.79*** 0.73–0.86 99 0.78*** 0.68–0.89 39 0.86 0.73–1.02 11 0.87 0.62–1.23
Time of collision
Daytime weekday 5756 0.88*** 0.83–0.92 519 0.84*** 0.78–0.90 1543 0.92** 0.87–0.97 101 0.89 0.79–1.01
Night-time weekday 1492 0.87** 0.80–0.94 175 0.82*** 0.73–0.91 312 0.92 0.84–1.01 23 0.92 0.75–1.13
Daytime weekend 1819 0.92 0.82–1.02 243 0.80** 0.70–0.92 364 1.02 0.91–1.15 32 0.88 0.72–1.09
Night-time weekend 1657 0.90* 0.82–0.99 219 0.88* 0.78–0.99 294 0.99 0.89–1.10 24 0.96 0.76–1.21

CI, confidence interval; NA, not applicable; *P < 0.05; **P ≤ 0.01; ***P ≤ 0.001.

a Adjusted by time trend, seasonality, the effect of road safety prioritization in 2004, the introduction of the penalty points system in July 2006, and national fuel consumption.

b Pre-intervention period: 1 January 2000 to 30 November 2007; post-intervention period: 1 December 2007 to 31 December 2009.