For several years, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has been measuring the driving behavior and attitudes of American drivers to better understand and improve the nation's traffic safety culture. As part of this effort, the group publishes its Traffic Safety Culture Index each year, a report that shares the findings of its research in which participants are asked questions about highway dangers, acceptability of driving behaviors, support for laws and countermeasures, and frequency of engaging in risky behaviors.As in the past, the 2014 index found an indifferent attitude toward road safety among U.S. drivers: what the organization terms a "do as I say, not as I do" attitude. For example:
- 84.4% of drivers say texting/emailing while driving is completely unacceptable, while 36.1% admit to reading one and 27.1% admit to typing one in the past month.
- 64.6% of drivers say speeding on residential streets is completely unacceptable, yet 43.5% have done it in the past month.
- 81.3% of drivers say drowsy driving is completely unacceptable, however, 29.4% have done it in the past month.
This year's report summarizes survey findings at the national level as well as results for 24 states covering 80% of the U.S. population.