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

  • Pedestrian sensing and optical upgrades from Wireless Technology
    September 9, 2014
    New pedestrian-sensing technology and an enhanced camera system are key exhibits on Wireless Technology’s booth.
  • Flir webinar training in January
    January 13, 2017
    Flir Intelligent Transportation Systems is offering a 45-minute webinar 19 January, Make your traffic run smoother, more efficient and safer with Flir ITS, which discusses its solutions help to keep vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles moving safely and smoothly. More information and registration is available on the Flir website.
  • City of Toronto and Waze share traffic data to help motorists navigate the City
    November 24, 2017
    The City of Toronto has formed a partnership with community-based traffic and navigation app Waze which will provide both companies with free access to each other’s real-time traffic and road data, providing motorists with information on how to navigate the area. It will also allow the City to use anonymous Waze driver and traffic insights to make data-driven infrastructure decisions. Waze will help the City to disseminate traffic and road closure information for major events, highway maintenance and
  • World Congress hosts first responders from southeast Michigan
    September 8, 2014
    ITS America welcomes the 2014 ITS World Congress to a busy schedule of special events this week. Tuesday has been declared Emergency Responder Day in an effort to put a spotlight on what first responders do on the scene of an accident and how ITS developments can help their life-saving efforts run smoother, faster and safer. Anyone in uniform will be granted entry to the World Congress for free throughout the day and can attend two special sessions focused on emergency response.