Since 2008, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has been conducting an annual survey of U.S. residents ages 16 and older to assess key indicators of the country’s current traffic safety culture. The survey measures aspects of traffic safety culture that are not available through traditional analyses of crash data: social norms, driving behaviours, attitudes toward crash countermeasures that range from engineering to legislation; and driving behaviours and experience. Findings from this survey have been used to track culture over time and stimulated interest in traffic safety among the media and the public. This article documents that the perceived threat of multiple risky driving behaviours have decreased in recent years, changes in public acceptance of such behaviours have been mixed, and the prevalence of self-reported dangerous driving behaviours have changed little since 2009. These results illustrate how ongoing monitoring provides important insights into where future efforts could be targeted. (Author/publisher)
Abstract