Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
3-2016
Abstract
This paper estimates the effects of temporary driver's license suspensions on driving behavior. A little known rule in the German traffic penalty catalogue maintains that drivers who commit a series of speeding transgressions within 365 days should have their license suspended for one month. My fuzzy regression discontinuity design exploits the quasi-random assignment of license suspensions caused by the 365-day cutoff and shows that 1-month license suspensions lower the probability of recidivating within a year by 20 percent. This effect is not driven by incapacitation and indicates that temporary license suspensions are an effective tool in preventing traffic transgressions.
Comments
This paper is Working Paper 11 in the Working Paper Series of the Ph.D. Program in Economics at the Graduate Center, CUNY. It is also available via RePEc: https://ideas.repec.org/p/cgc/wpaper/011.html.