Research Studies & Reports

DMV’s Research & Development Branch has been conducting research and producing studies and reports since the 1950s. Research & Development reports help DMV to measure the impact of new laws on making drivers safer. We also identify areas where we can improve our processes, explore new approaches to solving existing problems, and branch out into new opportunities to serve you better. 

Request printed copies of studies and reports by mail at:

Department of Motor Vehicles
Research and Development Branch
2415 1st Ave. Mail Station: F-126
Sacramento, CA 95818
(916) 914-8125

Please include the report number, the number of copies requested, and your name, address, and phone number.

393 Results

Report ID Date Published Title Section Links
103 1986/ 03

A Confidence Interval Approach to the Development of Blood Alcohol Concentration Charts

By: Gary W. Arstein-Kerslake

To develop blood alcohol concentration charts based on confidence interval estimates

VII
31 1970/ 03

Projected Motor Vehicle Registration and Drivers Licenses Outstanding, 1970-85

By: Raymond C. Peck, William C. Marsh, Robin S. McBride, David M. Harrington, Richard M. Harano, Fredrick M. Wademan, & Ronald R. Payne

To prepare a set of estimated vehicle registrations to 1985, by county, for each of the four classes of vehicles --passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, motorcycles, and trailers.

VII
NRN098 1987/ 04

A Queueing Model of Customer Waiting Time in DMV Field Offices

By: Anthony DeMaio

To develop a computerized queueing model for use in DMV field offices for possible reduction of customer waiting time.

VII
13 1963/ 03

Migration to California

By: Ronald S. Coppin & G. van Oldenbeek

Through a survey, to describe the origin, county of California residence, age, and sex composition of 31,358 households registering out-of-state vehicles in California.

VII
14.1 1963/ 01

An Evaluation of “Plate to Owner” Vs “Plate to Vehicle” Registration Methods

By: Marvin B. Crabb

To determine the advantages and disadvantages of issuing license plates to owners of motor vehicles versus issuing license plates to vehicles. To investigate effects of issuing plates to owners on the public, government, industry, and other groups.

VII
53 1975/ 09

Language Survey – Summary Report of a Statewide Field Office Survey Taken to Determine Language Characteristics of Non-English Speaking

By: Research Staff

To conduct a survey to determine the number of non-English-speaking persons attempting to utilize services provided at DMV facilities.

VII
IM4 1981/ 07

An Estimate of the Rate at Which Vehicle Values Depreciate for Use in Calculating Vehicle License Fees

By: Michael Ratz

To determine how much vehicle license fee (VLF) revenue is lost due to the VLF depreciation structure underestimating the actual retail value of used vehicles.

VII
IM5 1981/ 11

Use Tax Survey

By: Mary K. Janke

To compare reported purchase prices in use-tax transactions with wholesale Kelley Blue Book prices, in order to determine whether purchasers of used vehicles from private parties tended to underreport the amount they paid.

VII
NRN103 1991/ 01

Driving Simulator Review

By: Leonard A. Marowitz

To review and evaluate the technology, costs, and _unresolved issues of contention related to driving simulators; to reach conclusions, based on research studies, about the validity of using driving simulators.

VII
248 2014/ 10

Cellular Phone Distracted Driving: A Review of the Literature and Summary of Crash and Driver Characteristics in California

By: Kevin Limrick, Ann Lambert, Eric Chapman

The present study reviews the literature on cell phone-distracted driving including the effectiveness of legislative efforts to reduce the behavior. It also reports results of descriptive analyses characterizing crashes and drivers involved in police-reported, cell phone-distracted crashes in California. Cell phone use in the U.S. is widespread and increasing. People tend to support legislative efforts to limit the use of cell phones while driving despite the fact that many continue to engage in the behavior. Empirical and observational research consistently shows a negative impact of cell phone use on driving performance and crash risk. The present study extracted data from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System database pertaining to crashes that occurred between 2003 and 2011 in California. These data were examined at two levels: crash and driver. Crash analyses revealed that most crashes did not involve inattention. When they did, non-cell phone inattention was more common than cell phone inattention and hand-held cell phone use was more commonly associated with crashes than hands-free. The most common primary crash factor for cell phone-related fatal/injury crashes was traveling at an unsafe speed. A larger percentage of cell phone-related fatal/injury crashes occurred during the workweek than on the weekend, and more occurred in the afternoon than in the morning or night. Driver analyses revealed that 21 to 30 year-old drivers accounted for the largest percentage of drivers involved in cell phone-related fatal/injury crashes. Males accounted for more cell phone-related fatal/injury crashes than females. Finally, drivers reported as using a cell phone at the time of fatal/injury crashes were more likely to be found at fault, and were slightly more likely to be found at fault than those using hands-free devices.

VII