Distracted Driver Disconnect Unabated

The good news is that a majority of motor vehicle drivers–94 percent–agree that texting or e-mailing while driving is unacceptable and percent support laws against reading, typing or sending text messages or emails while driving, according to the not-for-profit AAA Foundation’s 2011 Traffic Safety Culture Index. The bad news is that more than one-third of those drivers reported texting or emailing while driving in the previous month.

According to the survey, 88 percent feel other drivers' talking on a phone is a threat to safety, yet two-thirds admitted to having talked on a cell phone while driving in the past 30 days. The findings also showed that peoples' concern about texting or emailing while driving (95 percent) is on par with drinking and driving (93 percent). Additionally, 87 percent of drivers expressed support for having a law against reading, typing or sending a text message or email while driving and 50 percent of drivers support having a law against the use of any type of cell phone, hand‐held or hands‐free, for all drivers regardless of age.

The AAA Foundation’s fourth annual Traffic Safety Culture Index was conducted June 6 – 28, 2011 by Knowledge Networks for the AAA Foundation, a not-for-profit advocacy group established by AAA. It comprised a nationally representative sample of 3,147 U.S. residents ages 16 and older using the web-enabled KnowledgePanel, a probability-based survey* panel designed to be representative of the U.S. population.

“This research continues to illustrate a “Do as I Say, Not as I Do” attitude that persists among drivers, and perpetuates the threat of cell phone use while driving,” said AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety President and CEO Peter Kissinger. “Changing our nation's traffic safety culture requires drivers to take responsibility for their actions and alter their own behaviors on the road.”

Distracted driving, especially the use of cell phones and text messaging, is quickly becoming a top safety concern for insurers, policymakers, safety advocates, law enforcement, industry, and the public. As part of AAA’s commitment to improving highway safety for its members and all road users, AAA launched a legislative campaign in 2009 to ban texting while driving in all 50 states. So far in 2011, four additional states have enacted anti‐texting laws, bringing the total number up to 34 states and the District of Columbia that have adopted this safety measure, according to the Insurance Information Institute (III).

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has reported that 20 percent of all injury crashes in 2009 involved distracted driving. The federal agency says nearly 5,500 people died that year in vehicle crashes involving driver distraction, with those victims accounting for 16 percent of all roadway fatalities.

And the numbers have worsened in the past few years, according to officials. About 10 percent of traffic fatalities in 2005 resulted from crashes involving distracted driving. That proportion had risen to 16 percent by 2009.

The disconnect drivers seem to experience between understanding the how risky distracted driving behavior is and taking steps to avoid that behavior also applies to another form of distracted driving: drowsy driving. Research released in November 2010 from the AAA Foundation found that 41% of respondents admitted to having fallen asleep at the wheel at some point, with 10% saying they've done so in the past year. Additionally, more than a quarter of those surveyed admitted they drove despite being so tired that they had difficulty keeping their eyes open in the previous month.

AAA’s most current efforts include the promotion of Heads Up Driving Week from Sunday, October 2 through Saturday, October 8. The campaign is designed to inspire drivers to pledge to a week of distraction-free driving while encouraging them to “Try it for a Week and Do it for Life.”

*The survey has a margin of error of approximately ± 2.3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

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