CTS Webinar: Traffic Safety Violations Disposition Analysis — What the Data Tells Us

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About the Event

How have traffic safety enforcement and court outcomes changed in Minnesota, and what do those trends mean for efforts to reduce crashes and fatalities?

This webinar will highlight findings from a CTS project that evaluated the enforcement and adjudication of traffic safety violations using more than 1.2 million case records from 2017 to 2022. The study found significant shifts in enforcement patterns, including declines in citations for speeding, seatbelt violations, and impaired driving, alongside a sharp increase in distracted driving citations following passage of Minnesota’s 2019 Hands-Free law.

CTS scholar Nichole Morris will explore how these enforcement trends corresponded with changes in crashes, including increases in fatal crashes alongside declines in speeding and impairment citations and a nearly 40 percent decline in distracted-driving-related crashes as enforcement increased. The webinar will also examine differences in citation patterns across Minnesota, conviction rates by charge severity, and the finding that targeted speed enforcement increased DWI citations.

Stephanie Malinoff, CTS director of strategy and operations, will provide a brief overview of Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths (TZD), and discuss why the Traffic Safety Violations Disposition Analysis was undertaken.

The webinar is being held in conjunction with a CTS Transportation Safety and Mobility Research Council meeting.

Speakers

Nichole Morris is the director of the Human Factors Safety Laboratory at the University of Minnesota and a CTS scholar. Her main research interests are in human factors of transportation safety, especially as it relates to in-vehicle technologies, pedestrian and non-motorist safety, safety data collection, gender biases in trauma care, and work-zone safety. Her most recent research has examined interactions between drivers and automated vehicles, pedestrian safety programs, work-zone intrusion mitigation and documentation, rural intersection designs, police pursuits, vehicle collision detection and warnings with non-motorist road users, and in-vehicle displays for snowplow lane guidance. 

Stephanie Malinoff is the director of strategy and operations at CTS. She provides overall leadership for the Center by providing strategic direction on financial management, including oversight of financial and administrative functions for the Center; identifying program opportunities; securing funding; directing programs; and managing staff. As a member of the CTS Leadership Team, Stephanie helps guide all aspects of the Center’s operations, including policy development, strategic positioning, resource allocation, and staff development.