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

  • Uber seeks to resume AV trials nearly eight months after Arizona fatality
    November 6, 2018
    Uber wants to resume testing its self-driving cars on public roads nearly eight months after one of its autonomous vehicles (AV) killed a pedestrian in Arizona. The ride-hailing company has released a voluntary safety report to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which includes safety enhancements to help prevent crashes and fatalities. Uber says its AVs would include two mission specialists – employees who have completed advanced training courses in self-driving vehicle operations. The
  • Road traffic deaths still rising worldwide, says WHO report
    December 12, 2018
    Poor road safety worldwide is a serious cause for concern, with thousands being injured or killed across the glove every single day. The issue is highlighted by a new report by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This indicates road traffic deaths continue to rise, with annual road fatalities now reaching 1.35 million, compared with 1.25 million just three years ago. The WHO Global status report on road safety 2018 highlights that road traffic injuries are now the leading killer of children and young pe
  • Transportation committee chairman’s successful driverless car trip
    September 5, 2013
    Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Bill Shuster witnessed firsthand a demonstration of driverless automobile technology, when he rode from suburban Pittsburgh to Pittsburgh International Airport in Carnegie Mellon University’s driverless vehicle. Shuster was joined yesterday by Pennsylvania Department of Transportation secretary Barry Schoch for the thirty-mile trip in the driverless 2011 Cadillac SRX. The fully automated vehicle safely navigated the route, which included various dri
  • SwRI sponsors ITS America with $1,000 student essay competition
    February 14, 2018
    Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is inviting U.S. students to take part in an essay competition to share their visions for the future of transportation with a $1,000 (£720) prize and a trip to ITS America 2018, in Detroit, from the 4-7 June. It is aimed at providing students an opportunity to apply their knowledge in a thought-provoking manner. The topic, ‘How do you envision disruptive consumer technology will affect transportation systems over the next 10 years?’ is open to transportation, engineering