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As roadside responders, towers know that distracted driving is a serious problem. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) states that 91,000 police-reported crashes resulting in 50,000 injuries and 800 fatalities annually—amounting to approximately 1%–2% of all crashes, injuries, and deaths—involve drowsy driving. In a new report summary titled "Countermeasures for Distracted Driving: An Exploration Beyond the Scientific Literature" the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety presents a comprehensive review of current efforts by national, state, local, and international organizations at implementing countermeasures to address driver distraction.
Findings from the foundational interviews revealed that distracted driving is likely to be underestimated, underprioritized, underfunded, and difficult to evaluate. Additional challenges identified by the interviewees include the following:
- Most distracted driving countermeasures (including legislation) focus solely on specific cellphone-use behaviors.
- Distracted driving countermeasures, as implemented, most often involve education, though some interviewees noted a lack of effectiveness for education alone.
- Enforcement is often perceived as the most effective countermeasure but not feasible for most organizations.
- Misunderstanding of the Safe System approach (by both practitioners and the public) may limit the necessary redundancy of implementation efforts.
Key Findings
General recommendations and opportunities for the development, implementation, and promotion of distracted driving countermeasures include (listed in the order they are presented in the report):
- Expand the range of distracted driving behaviors targeted by countermeasures beyond cellphone use.
- Extend the targeting of distracted driving countermeasures beyond young drivers.
- Continue the development of smartphone-based distracted driving countermeasures.
- Strengthen educational/behavioral distracted driving countermeasures by incorporating constructs of behavioral change theory that are known to be effective in changing other risky behaviors.
- Expand the framing of educational/behavioral countermeasures to include non-risk-related messaging.
- Focus on educating law enforcement on the value of enforcing distracted driving laws.
- Promote the use of objective measures of general driving and distracted driving in the development and evaluation of distracted driving countermeasures.
- Clarify among distracted driving stakeholders the importance of outcome evaluations that measure changes in behavior in understanding the effectiveness of distracted driving countermeasures.
- Develop a consistent and coordinated branding of distracted driving prevention efforts across jurisdictions.
- Increase the visibility of the National Distracted Driving Coalition and other existing alliances that address distracted driving.
- Address safety culture and the Safe System Approach in efforts to reduce distracted driving.
- Develop a Safe System Approach toolkit with easy-to-understand strategies and materials for implementing efforts to address distracted driving.
- Consider the necessary and realistic financial and human resources as a fundamental component in distracted driving efforts.
- Ensure that underserved and low-income communities have the resources to implement and engage in distracted driving countermeasures.
TRAA appreciates the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety for conducting this valuable research. We look forward to seeing the results of their next study. For more information visit: AAAFoundation.org.
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