Traffic violations and cooperative intentions among drivers: the role of corruption and fairness

Abstract

This paper examines traffic violations and cooperative intentions among a sample of commercial vehicle drivers in Ghana. Results showed that personal and vicarious corruption experiences independently increased frequency of self-reported violations of traffic laws. We found no evidence that perceived police fairness influenced self-reported violations of traffic laws. However, perception of fairness correlated with self-reported violation of traffic laws only when it interacted with personal or vicarious corruption experiences. We also found that perceived police fairness significantly increased the likelihood of cooperation with police, lending support to evidence from prior studies. Personal experience of police corruption decreased the likelihood of cooperative intention. Perceived fairness remained relevant for cooperative intention even among drivers who reported personal corruption experience. The implications of these findings are discussed.