2011 Report distracted driving on the capital beltway.

The name says it all. Orange Cones. No Phones. is a regional awareness campaign focused on reducing distracted driving in the Capital Beltway HOT Lanes construction zone. When drivers see the orange cones on the road they need to put down those phones. Transurban-Fluor and AAA Mid-Atlantic launched the campaign in 2009 to reduce distracted driving in the Capital Beltway HOT Lanes construction zone in Northern Virginia. Capital Beltway HOT Lanes project partners (Federal Highway Administration and Virginia Department of Transportation), as well as state and local law enforcement agencies supported the campaign with expertise and personnel. The 2009 campaign reached more than 10 million people and garnered national recognition, winning the Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil Award of Excellence and the American Road and Transportation Builders Association 2010 Roadway Work Zone Safety Awareness Award. The campaign continued in 2010 with the addition of the High School Safety Challenge, a marketing competition among high school students, and the Employer Safety Pledge. Initiatives launched during the 2010 campaign have already reached more than 10 million people through earned, social and online media. Drivers are increasingly aware of distracted driving dangers and are curbing dangerous phone behaviours. Now in its third year, the Distracted Driving on the Capital Beltway Report tracks drivers’ cell phone use while travelling on I-495/Capital Beltway in Virginia — the third most congested highway in the United States and location of the country’s current largest highway construction project. Transurban-Fluor and AAA Mid-Atlantic surveyed approximately 1,000 Beltway drivers to examine distracted driving tendencies and how, if at all, drivers change their behaviour in the 14-mile I-495/ Capital Beltway HOT Lanes construction zone. The 2011 report reveals that distracted driving awareness programs have had a positive effect on drivers’ distracted driving habits, with the number of people who talk on hand-held cell phones while driving decreasing 33 percent in just one year. (Author/publisher)