Distracted driving remains a significant and high-profile traffic safety concern, with cell phone use and text messaging among its most visible manifestations. Studies have shown, for example, that driver use of cell phones impairs reaction times and roughly quadruples crash risk. Additionally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that more than 3,000 people are killed and nearly half a million are injured each year in distraction-related crashes. This is, in fact, likely a large underestimate given data limitations and the challenge of determining the presence and impact of distraction in motor vehicle crashes. In 2008, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (AAAFTS) began surveying the American public in an effort to measure attitudes and behaviors related to driving habits, safety concerns, traffic laws, and other highway safety issues. The findings, published in the Foundation’s annual Traffic Safety Culture Index, have consistently shown widespread cell phone use by drivers, and this continues to be demonstrated by the latest data. In the 2012 survey, more than two-thirds (68.9%) of licensed drivers* reported having talked on a cell phone while driving at least once within the previous 30 days, and nearly one-third (31.9%) said they had done so fairly often or regularly during this time. This is the case despite the fact that nearly nine-in-ten respondents (88.5%) said that drivers talking on cell phones were a somewhat or very serious threat to their safety. In August 2012, researchers at MIT published results from a study that found that drivers who frequently used cell phones behind the wheel were more likely than those who did so infrequently to report or be observed engaging in other risky behaviors, such as frequent lane changing, speeding, and hard acceleration.4 Based on the findings, the researchers suggested that cell phone use itself may not account for the entire crash risk increase associated with this behavior, and that drivers who used their phones were more likely to engage in a range of other relatively risky activities, as well. This report presents the latest data on distracted driving from the Traffic Safety Culture Index survey, and examines select 2012 findings in light of the MIT study to determine whether the self-reported behaviors and attitudes documented in the Index corroborate the concern that distracted driving may simply be one manifestation of risk-prone driving more broadly. This report finds that, as in previous years, the safety culture in the United States surrounding distracted driving can best be described using the phrase “do as I say, not as I do,” owing to the high numbers of people who object to certain behaviors, yet admit that they, themselves, engage in them. Moreover, the findings in this report are broadly consistent with those of MIT, and offer additional evidence that drivers who talk on their cell phones are more likely to engage in a range of other dangerous behaviors behind the wheel as well. (Author/publisher)
Abstract