Behind the wheel, orthopedists speed more than physicians, but internists tend to get the most tickets, a study that examines the driving behaviors of physicians shows.
Published in the BMJ, the study compared 5,372 physicians and a sample of 19,639 nonphysicians ticketed for speeding from 2004 to 2017. The physicians received a total of 14,560 speeding tickets.
Physicians from the following five specialties drive the fastest:
Note: Figures represent average speed over the limit.
● Orthopedists: 16.8 mph
● Psychiatrists: 16.5 mph
● Internal medicine subspecialists: 16.4 mph
● Cardiologists: 16.3 mph
● Emergency physicians: 16.2 mph
Physicians from the following five specialties get the most tickets:
Note: Figures represent percentage of all tickets included in the study.
● Internal medicine subspecialists: 12 percent
● Family physicians: 12 percent
● General surgeons: 10 percent
● Anesthesiologists: 8 percent
● Surgical subspecialists: 7 percent
Physicians from the following six specialties are most likely to be cited for extreme driving:
Note: Figures represent adjusted proportion of drivers ticketed for driving about 20 mph over the limit.
● Psychiatrists: 34 percent
● General surgeons: 31 percent
● Cardiologists: 30 percent
● General internists: 30 percent
● Internal medicine subspecialists: 29 percent
● Emergency physicians: 29 percent
The study also found that cardiologists were the most likely to be driving a luxury car when ticketed.
However, leniency by police officers did not differ across specialties or between physicians and nonphysicians.