Summary
The purpose of this thesis was to conduct a process and outcome evaluation of the deterrent effect of Ontario’s Street Racers, Stunt and Aggressive Drivers Legislation. The focus of this study was on police enforcement (implementation), a change in speeding on the provincial highways (intermediate outcome) as well as on a decrease in both extreme speeding convictions and casualties, measured as a sum of injuries and fatalities (criterion outcomes). The deterrent effect of the legislation on Ontario drivers was examined, using data obtained from the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. Employing interrupted time series analyses with ARIMA modelling, we found a significant reduction in both criterion outcome measures for the intervention group(s), comparing the series before and after the intervention. No corresponding changes were found for the comparison group(s). The findings suggest that the examined legal intervention was effective in deterring illegal risky driving behaviours and improving road safety.