Skip to main content

Americans want more action and enforcement to improve highway safety

At a time when there is intense debate about the role of government, a majority of Americans support additional laws and want more action by government officials to improve highway safety, a new survey released yesterday by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety claims.
May 16, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
At a time when there is intense debate about the role of government, a majority of Americans support additional laws and want more action by government officials to improve highway safety, a new survey released yesterday by the 477 AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety claims.

"Despite shrinking federal and state transportation budgets and a public debate over the most appropriate role of government, it's clear that a majority of Americans want government officials to do more – not less – about highway safety," said 4939 AAA president and CEO Bob Darbelnet. "From passing and enforcing laws about teen drivers and distracted driving to programmes that improve the safety of our roadways and add safety equipment to vehicles, there are many steps government can take to reduce crashes, injuries, and deaths in the US."

The survey was released just ahead of the United Nations' official launch of the 'Decade of Action for Road Safety' campaign, which aims to stabilise and then reduce global road deaths by 2020. Major economies of the G20, including the United States as well as leading developing countries and public institutions like the  2000 World Bank and the 1819 World Health Organisation, have all endorsed the Decade of Action.

"At a time when more and more U.S. highway safety agencies are adopting "Toward Zero Death" goals, it is very heartening to see motorist support for more, not less action by government to make our roads safer," added J. Peter Kissinger, president of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, that commissioned this survey.

The survey shows that a majority of Americans are in agreement that the US needs more laws to prevent people from doing dangerous things while driving; that their respective state government needs to do more to make their roads safer;  that all new drivers should be required to complete a driver education course before they can get a driver's license; that both auto manufacturers and the federal government need to do more to make cars safer; while 70 per cent of Americans agree that driving safety laws should be enforced more strictly with only six per cent disagreeing.

Full details of the survey are available at %$Linker: External 0 0 0 oLinkExternal www.AAAFoundation.org. AAAFoundation false http://aaafoundation.org./ false false%>

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ITS America 2013 best of ITS awards announced
    April 29, 2013
    Winners of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) 2013 Best of ITS Awards were announced during the opening plenary session of the 23rd ITS America annual meeting and exposition. This highly competitive program which recognises the most innovative projects and influential achievements in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) industry, and winners included, for best innovative product: Intelligent Transportation System Facility Management, Florida Department of Transportation
  • USDOT releases connected vehicle program synopsis
    December 23, 2014
    The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has issued the synopsis of its connected vehicles pilot deployment program notice of Phase 1: Concept Development under the solicitation number DTFH6115R00003. Connected vehicle research is being sponsored by the USDOT and others to leverage the potentially transformative capabilities of wireless technology to make surface transportation safer, smarter, and greener.
  • ITS Australia appoints first academic to board of directors
    November 30, 2018
    ITS Australia has appointed Professor Majid Sarvi from the University of Melbourne to its board of directors. Sarvi, the founder of transport technology programme AIMES, is the first academic to join the board. AIMES (Australian Integrated Multimodal EcoSystem) includes the university’s live test bed on Melbourne’s streets, and has close links with Michigan Department of Transportation. Sarvi described it as a “great honour to be elected by my peers in the ITS industry and to have the opportunity t
  • ASECAP annual study and information days
    February 6, 2014
    The 42nd annual ASECAP study and information days, to be held in Athens from 26 to 278 May 2014, will explore the role of the tolled roads in ensuring sustainability in times of dwindling traffic. It will allow high-level panellists representing toll road infrastructure operators, EU decision-makers and ministers to discuss sustainability issues related to infrastructure financing, operation, maintenance, safety and the environment, while considering how intelligent transport systems contribute to the achie