This annual Traffic Safety Culture Index (TSCI), a nationally representative survey, has been conducted to identify and assess key indicators regarding American drivers’ attitudes toward and behaviors regarding traffic safety, since 2008.
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Driving is an important part of many Americans’ lives. For the last decade, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has been committed to strengthening our understanding of our nation’s traffic safety culture through the annual Traffic Safety Culture Index (TSCI), a nationally representative survey. In 2018, the questionnaire was revamped to include more measures such as perceived danger, risk of arrest, personal and perceived social approval of risky driving, support for laws and policies designed to curtail these behaviors, and self-reported engagement in these behaviors.
The revised 2018 TSCI once again reveals that people in the United States value traveling safely and support strengthened laws that promote safer roads. American drivers perceive distracted, drowsy, aggressive and impaired driving as dangerous. However, similar to years prior, this year’s survey highlights the discordance between drivers’ attitudes and their behaviors. For example, many drivers noted the serious dangers associated with holding and talking on cellphones while driving but admitted to having done so in the past month.
Risky and Aggressive Driving Behaviors
This study recruited a sample of 3,349 respondents ages 16 and older from KnowledgePanel®, an online probability-based research panel maintained by Ipsos (formerly GfK). The panel was designed to be a representative sample of households in the United States and recruited using standard probability-based random digit dial (RDD) and address-based sampling method (GfK, 2016).
If a sampled household lacked internet access or an internet-capable computer, they were provided internet access and a netbook computer at no cost to the household. Individuals not sampled could not volunteer to join the panel. Statistics were weighted to reflect the entire population from which the sample was drawn in response to each individual respondent’s probability of selection into the panel and the probability of selection for the survey.
Results from the TSCI suggest American drivers perceive distracted, aggressive, drowsy and impaired driving as dangerous. Driving after drinking enough alcohol to be over the legal limit and distracted driving behaviors related to reading and sending text messages on cellphones are considered particularly dangerous. Speeding, either driving 10 miles over the limit on a residential street or driving 15 miles over the limit on a freeway, is regarded as the least dangerous.
Of particular interest is the concordance (or lack thereof) between attitudes toward risky driving and self-reported behaviors. Often there is also a concordance between perceived risk of arrest and/or social approval. For example, the public regards drinking and driving as extremely dangerous, and people rarely report engaging in this behavior. On the other hand, speeding is regarded as the least dangerous of the driving activities in the survey and the most commonly cited self-reported risky driving behavior.
There is a stark contrast between the public’s attitudes toward cellphone use and self-reported behaviors. Many drivers noted the serious dangers associated with holding and talking on cellphones while driving, while also admitting to having done so in the past month.