The Eye and the Whip

Corruption vulnerabilities exist where government officials have power over the provision of goods and the imposition of costs. Building permits and infrastructure contracts are examples of state-issued goods. Traffic tickets and tax liabilities are examples of costs levied by the state. These and other corruption vulnerabilities turn to actual threats when officials calculate that the benefits of abusing their power are greater than the penalties associated with getting caught. By a similar logic, the formula for corruption control requires increasing the probability of detecting corruption (that is, of activating the eye) through enhanced monitoring and then credibly threatening to apply the appropriate penalty in response to wrongdoing (cracking the whip). Notably, the common policy response to corruption often emphasizes only the first of the two mechanisms. Governments prioritize transparency measures but avoid the risks associated with confronting corruption. Therefore, as a means to improve on the current state of affairs, this book examines distinct approaches to promoting accountability, especially accountability among the set of unelected officials responsible for regulating the built environment. It analyzes the results of field experiments on corruption control conducted in the City of Querétaro in central Mexico, urban and peri-urban districts in Peru, and two of New York City’s boroughs. The book contributes evidence-based recommendations for how societies can go about fighting bureaucratic corruption.

Aberrant Driving Behaviour, Risk Involvement, and Their Related Factors Among Taxi Drivers

The current study aims to investigate the aberrant driving behaviour and risk involvement of Iranian taxi drivers. The sample comprised 405 Iranian taxi drivers, who were recruited with a cross-sectional design, using a self-completion questionnaire survey during October and November 2016. We contribute to the literature by understanding how and to what extent the socioeconomic, demographic, driving, and aberrant driving behaviours influence risk involvement (accident involvement and traffic tickets). The validated 27-item Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) was applied to measure aberrant driving behaviour. The results from valid observations (n = 381) explored a four-factor solution (including errors, ordinary violations, lapses, and aggressive violations) of the DBQ. The results also showed that being a single driver, having a high annual driving mileage, and a high number of daily taxi trips were positively associated with accident involvement. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between the more ordinary violations and aggressive violations and accident involvement. Establishing better training and qualification mechanisms for taxi drivers could be considered by traffic safety experts in order to reduce ordinary and aggressive violations.

Assessment of Drivers’ Perceptions of Various Police Enforcement Strategies and Associated Penalties and Rewards

Road crashes are a major cause of death in many countries. Qatar has been battling to improve road safety on several fronts using different strategies, including road policing. The purpose of this study is to ascertain drivers’ perceptions towards five existing and four proposed police traffic enforcement strategies and associated penalties and rewards in Qatar using face-to-face surveys. The results show that red-light running cameras were perceived to be the most successful existing strategy. The high violation fine and the automation of the system were mentioned as the main reasons for making this strategy the most successful. Three of the existing strategies, fixed-speed enforcement cameras, police enforcement, and mobile speed cameras, were conferred almost the same success percentage, followed by the demerit point system. Regarding the proposed strategies, rewarding safe drivers was selected by the participants as the most successful proposed strategy, followed by introducing more automated enforcement methods. Community service for traffic tickets came in third, followed by defensive driving school. These results can be used to influence future enhancements of existing strategies and guide the development of future traffic strategies being introduced in the traffic system.

A Framework of Event-Driven Traffic Ticketing System

This paper presents a new scheme to implement an event-driven traffic ticketing system. The system consists of two modules, namely, (1) event detection module, (2) database management module to execute information retrieval and deliver traffic tickets. In this paper, the notable contribution is an automatic detection of traffic ticketing events from video footages and immediate notification of such event when a car is passing the white stop line before a red traffic light. The results show the authors' work is efficient and could detect the events precisely.

Validation of the Attention-Related Driving Errors Scale (ARDES) in an English-Speaking Sample

Objective: The goal for this study was to develop an English translation of the Attention-Related Driving Errors Scale (ARDES-US) and to determine its potential relationship with driver history and other demographic variables. Background: Individual differences in performance on vigilance and cognitive tasks are well documented, but less is known about susceptibility to attention-related errors while driving. The ARDES has been developed and administered in both Spanish and Chinese but to our knowledge has never been administered or examined in an English-speaking population. Method: Two hundred ninety-six English-speaking individuals completed a series of self-report measures, including the ARDES-US, Attention-Related Cognitive Errors Scale, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, and Cognitive Failures Questionnaire. Results: A confirmatory factor analysis using maximum-likelihood estimates with robust standard errors revealed results largely consistent with previous versions of the ARDES, namely, the ARDES-Spain and ARDES-Argentina. Additionally, a number of new results emerged. Specifically, women, drivers who received traffic tickets within the previous 2 years, and those with a lower level of education all had a greater propensity toward self-reported driver inattention as measured by the ARDES-US. Further analyses revealed that these findings were independent of age, years of driving experience, and driving frequency. Conclusion: These results suggest that the ARDES-US is a valid and reliable measure of driver inattention with an English-speaking American sample. Application: Potential applications of the ARDES-US include identifying individuals who are at greater risk of attention-related errors while driving and suggesting individually tailored training and safety countermeasures.

Courting Ignorance: Why We Know So Little About Our Most Important Courts

Most of the United States' judicial work takes place in the country's state trial courts. These tribunals preside over everything from traffic tickets to murder trials, from routine debt collection to massive environmental torts. Given their expansive role, the manner in which these courts function is of immense significance. But ultimately, we know very little about these institutions. Our ignorance flows both from trivial bureaucratic turf battles and from deeply rooted principles of local government, a phenomenon I have called “data federalism.” In the last few decades, we have begun to form a partial image of the activities of these organs of government; but we know almost nothing about their past, and the little we do know suggests the dangers of extrapolation. This essay explores the extent of our ignorance of state trial courts and the difficulties of overcoming it.