AAA Finds Drivers Say One Thing, Do Another

Here's an interesting thought: what if a driver said one thing and did the exact opposite. Well, here's a news flash for you, that's exactly what they are doing, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Indeed, the AAA organization noted, in this month's "AAA Horizons" for Southern New England that "for all the time this nation spends in the car, most people give relatively little thought to how our actions affect safety,"

In fact, the group noted that while "driving is one of the riskier practices we all engage in, safety is not always the highest - or clearest - priority."

The AAA unit noted, with alarm, that our nation's fatality rate is about 40,000 drivers a year and it indicated that many of those fatalities occur in "crashes that are entirely avoidable." The foundation noted that one of the reasons drivers really don't give much thought to the results of their actions is because they consider their cars their "personal bubbles where drivers can do whatever they want, whenever they want, with no repercussions. The AAA unit is headed by J. Peter Simpson.

Because of this attitude the AAA Foundation has begun a new program. The program aims at building a comprehensive safety culture. "One of the ways the foundation is pursuing this effort is through an annual Traffic Safety Culture Index," the AAA group noted.

This program will not be static, either. It will change from year to year as the foundation conducts interviews with thousands of road users across the country. The information gathered will help AAA focus its work and "identify specific needs and opportunities." The new index will use the information gathered to show the "public's attitudes and perceptions are about safety issues and how those change from year to year," the organization noted.

This year's poll shows a disturbing trend. About a-third of the drivers polled say "they feel less safe than hey did five years ago. This suggests a growing awareness of and concern about safety issues, especially distracted driving, aggressive driving, drunk driving and cellphone use while driving," the AAA noted.

More than 80 percent of those polled called distracted driving - not paying attention while driving - as one of the most serious threats on the road. "Considering that just a decade ago most had never heard of distracted driving, it's clear people are getting the message about just how dangerous this practice is," AAA emphasized.

AAA noted that even though the public is aware of the problem "awareness isn't necessarily translating into changes into behavior." Interestingly, the index showed there are many cases where people have adopted a "do as I say, not as I do attitude."

For example, fully 94 percent of people find running red lights unacceptable, yet 26 percent of that 94 percent say they've run red lights when they could have stopped safely. "Similarly, 91 percent find tailgating unacceptable, but a quarter do it, even when the could have backed off. People are equally contradictory about speeding and cellphone use," the auto safety club noted.

And, the public is seeing new threats on the horizon as more drivers either text or use email while they are driving. People believe this is as big a threat as drunk driving. "Safety messages have combined with growing media interest in this problem and the creation of several new state laws banning this activity have created a strong buzz about dangers," AAA noted.

Yet, even knowing this, people are still doing "the very things they know are unsafe. While 95 percent of those polled said texting or e-mailing while driving is 'unacceptable' about one-fifth of them admitted to having done it within the last month," AAA continued.

Surprisingly, people don't even deny the impact of their actions nor do they deny doing it. "Half of those who admitted to texting or e-mailing while driving said they understand clearly they're much more likely to get in a crash because of this," the group noted, continuing that from a "traffic-safety perspective, that's a particularly alarming statistic, since people who won't act in their own self-interest are even less likely to respect the rights of others to travel safely."

This shows, AAA notes, the size of the problem we are facing and how much effort must go into ensuring that drivers put safety first.

The AAA Foundation now has its work cut out for it. They face a "renewed effort to reinforce key safety messages to all audiences," AAA noted. Actually, the concepts are simple and most drivers already know them. They include: wearing a seatbelt; not drinking and driving, staying off the phone while driving and keeping your speed down. Drivers also have to pay attention.

"In fact, it all comes down to this:Drive. Safely," AAA notes.

Sources: AAA Horizons
www.aaafoundation.org