Commentary

Are you part of the problem?

In a survey of motorists across the country, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found a common thread: Americans blame other motorists for unsafe driving, while admitting to many of the same dangerous practices themselves.

The overall death toll on U.S. roadways has exceeded 40,000 every year since the early 1960s, with the sole exception of 1992. With this in mind, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety launched its first annual survey of the driving public on a wide variety of issues. The results, compiled as the 2008 Traffic Safety Culture Index, were both telling and distressing.

According to the survey, 82% of motorists rated distracted driving as a serious problem, yet more than half of those same individuals admitted to talking on a cell phone while driving in the past month, and 14% admitted to reading or sending text messages while driving.

More than seven out of 10 motorists rated red light running as a serious problem, yet more than half of those same individuals admitted to speeding up to get through yellow lights, and 5% said they had run a red light on purpose in the past month.

Nearly three out of every four motorists rated speeding as a serious problem, yet 40% admitted to driving 15 mph or more over the speed limit on the highway in the past month.

Perhaps the most alarming feedback: survey respondents agreed that drinking drivers are the most serious traffic safety issue, yet nearly 10% of them confessed to driving when they thought their blood alcohol content was above the legal limit.

What's more, three out of four motorists believed that they are more careful than others behind the wheel.

"Every 13 minutes, someone dies on America's roads, yet the nation seems complacent about these preventable tragedies," said AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety CEO Peter Kissinger. "The 2008 Traffic Safety Culture Index makes clear that while motorists are quick to blame the other guy for deadly practices like drunk, aggressive or distracted driving, too often those pointing the finger are themselves part of the problem."

"All of us should work to build a better traffic safety culture, one in which more than 40,000 deaths annually is not considered acceptable," Kissinger said. "We need a big red flag to focus all stakeholders on real solutions for highway safety. Instead, we seem to be waving the white flag of surrender by largely accepting the carnage of 40,000 deaths on the road each year."

In addition to documenting the difference between what drivers say and what they actually do behind the wheel, the 2008 Traffic Safety Culture Index also showed a cross-section of what the public has been exposed to regarding traffic safety.

For instance, nearly one in four people reported having been injured in a crash at some point in their lives. Nearly one in three reported having had a close friend or relative killed or permanently disabled in a crash.

"Known countermeasures could be put into practice today to cut the death toll on America's roads in half," Kissinger said. "Buckle up, pass the keys to a sober driver, put down the cell phone or sandwich, slow down to legal speeds, be courteous and stay alert—it's not rocket science, it's common sense. As we pressure lawmakers, law enforcement officials, highway engineers and automakers to do even more to make driving safer, all of us must also shoulder the responsibility and police ourselves to be safer, smarter drivers. Without such a commitment, highway deaths will continue at epidemic proportions and nothing will change."

The 2008 Traffic Safety Culture Index is the foundation's second major nationwide assessment of the public's actions, behaviors and beliefs with respect to traffic safety culture. Plans are to publish an updated index annually. A PDF of the report can be downloaded at www.AAAFoundation.org.