Psychiatrists are most likely to get a ticket for extreme speed, and cardiologists are most likely to drive luxury cars, according to a study published in the BMJ Christmas issue
The US study linked traffic violation data to publicly available data on physician characteristics. The sample included 5,372 physicians who received and 19,639 nonphysicians who received a speeding ticket during 2004-17.
The proportion of drivers who were cited for extreme speeding (defined as driving >20 mph above the speed limit), was similar between physicians and non-physicians (26.4% v 26.8% of tickets, respectively).
However, among physicians who received a ticket, psychiatrists were most likely to be fined for extreme speeding than other specialties (adjusted odds ratio of psychiatry compared with baseline specialty of anaesthesia 1.51; 95% CI 1.07-2.14).
Luxury car ownership was most common among cardiologists (adjusted proportion of ticketed cardiologists who owned a luxury car 40.9%; 95% CI 35.9%-45.9%) and least common among physicians in emergency medicine, family practice, paediatrics, general surgery, and psychiatry.
Physicians did not receive more lenient treatment from police, regardless of specialty.
