Why drivers don’t comply traffic laws A normative perspective

Background: High risk riding behavior may lead to fatal or serious injury crash involvement for the motorcyclist, their pillion passenger, and other road users. These behaviors almost always equal to violation of Traffic Laws which contradicts at least two basic human motivations: Self-preservation (Maslow, 1954) and maintaining a positive self-image (Tesser, 2001).Methods: This review of literature aims to investigate the causes of violating traffic laws based on a normative perspective.Results: Traffic laws differ with other laws in many ways: they present in people s everyday lives, their compliance requires constant effort and alertness, and some of them are not dichotomous (possible to violate them only a little).There are two perspectives about violating the laws:A) Instrumental perspective: people are motivated by gains, losses, rewards and punishments. In this perspective policy makers use rules compliance enforcement and social regulation strategies such as rewards and punishments to persuade people to comply with the law .B) Normative perspective: Explains compliance with the law as a function of values independent of any specific environment. Based on this perspective there are four reasons for violating laws:1. Legitimacy: Arises in an interaction either between two people, or between a person and a system, in which one party makes a certain claim, which the other accepts or rejects. Acceptance or rejection depends on: The legitimacy of the claim itself or The legitimacy of the claimant 2. Procedural Justice: The fairness of the decision-making procedures used by the authorities. Research suggests that the effect of procedural justice remains stronger over time than the effect of the outcomes. The perceived neutrality (fairness) of the law, strongly affects citizens support of it.3. Legal culture: Law and legal systems are cultural products like language, music and marriage arrangements. This structure is passed on through socially transmitted norms of conduct, and rules of decision, that influence the construction of intentional systems, including cognitive processes and individual dispositions 4. Moral reasoning: compliance with the law is closely associated with moral values. A model of stages of moral reasoning: Stage 1: Pre conventional morality: Attributing legitimacy solely to powerful authorities, to the avoidance of punishment, and to reward seeking.Stage2: Conventional morality: Granting legitimacy to the authorities based on their intentions, or legitimacy that results from unquestioned respect for authority.Stage3: Post conventional morality: Grants legitimacy to a system that is seen as functioning in accordance with universal principles of justice, equality and human right.• Conclusion: The Normative perspective has not been studied as widely as the instrumental perspective in regard to compliance with traffic laws. The findings prompts a rethinking of using instrumental approach and considering normative approaches which, emphasize the internalization of individuals’ values to respect the rules.

Keywords:

Risky Riding Behaviors , Normative Perspective , Violating Laws