Contact: Jonathan Adkins at 202-789-0942
Jason King, AAMVA, 703-908-8287

Washington, DC-A recent national poll conducted by the State Highway Safety Alliance (SHSA) and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company reveals the American public overwhelmingly supports funding for highway safety improvements. This study's findings come at a critical time in our nation's history as Congress debates legislation that will fund highway and transit programs nationwide in coming years.

Most notably, the poll shows 87 percent of Americans support federal funding for highway safety improvements. Members of the SHSA believe that figure underscores the urgent need for Congress to agree on, and pass, the six-year transportation bill with deliberate speed.

"State departments of transportation, as members of the State Highway Safety Alliance, join in the call for adequate safety funding in a multi-year, comprehensive bill," said John Horsley, Executive Director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), which represents state DOTs.

"Without additional federal funding, it will be difficult for states to maintain their progress in highway safety or for state motor vehicle agencies to maintain the integrity of the systems they rely on to keep dangerous drivers off the roads," said Linda R. Lewis, president and CEO, American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA). "This funding will help reduce traffic crashes and fatalities by ensuring that unsafe drivers are taken off the roads."

Drivers Say One Thing, Do Another

Surprisingly, despite evidence of a growing number of unsafe driving behaviors measured by the study, and exhibited by motorists today, 77 percent of poll respondents believe they are always safe drivers. However, 85 percent of those same motorists admit to sometimes or frequently exceeding the speed limit by more than five miles per hour. A sizeable percentage of these self-described safe drivers also indicate that they fail to properly manage distractions such as the radio (69 percent) and cell phones (44 percent) while driving.

"These hazardous driving behaviors underscore the need for Congress to quickly reauthorize the behavioral safety programs administered by the states," said Barbara Harsha, executive director, Governors Highway Safety Association, the organization that represents state highway safety agencies. "As this poll and our experiences directing state programs indicate, we urgently need additional funding to address emerging highway safety issues like excessive speeding and driver distractions."

Drivers may indicate they are safe operators, but the increasing number of traffic fatalities indicates otherwise."

In addition, while most respondents were aware that stopping distances for trucks are greater than cars, close to half of them were not aware of how much room to leave when attempting to pass in front of the truck. This behavior concerns the SHSA, particularly the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), and indicates more efforts are needed to educate automobile drivers on how to drive safely in the vicinity of trucks.

This poll was conducted December 3-December 31, 2003 by Western Wats, an independent survey firm, for Nationwide Insurance and the State Highway Safety Alliance. Six hundred fifty DMV-issued driver's license holders polled; margin of error +/-3.84 percent.

The State Highway Safety Alliance (SHSA) is a coalition of national associations representing state agencies tasked with the safety of the highway infrastructure, the safety of drivers and other road users and the safety of commercial motor vehicles. The SHSA supports several major safety themes and is urging Congress to address them in the surface transportation reauthorization. Members include the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA).

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