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AAA holiday concerns: speeding triples odds of crashing

Lower fuel prices, mild weather spur more trips to holiday favorite spots.

Anxious to arrive quickly at your destination this holiday season? Well, what about safely? Driving faster than surrounding traffic, driving while drowsy, not paying attention and aggressive driving are associated with increased risk of being involved in crashes, according to a recent study sponsored by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

The Dearborn-Mich.-based AAA estimates that you will be sharing the road with 51 million people between Christmas and New Years, so it is essential to know how to reduce the likelihood of being involved in a crash, according to its release.

In fact, the AAA Foundation’s research found four driving behaviors directly associated with an increased crash risk. Speeding was found to nearly triple the odds of being involved in a crash. Driving while drowsy was associated with a similar increase in the odds of being involved in a crash. When a driver’s eyes were off the road for more than two seconds, for any reason, the odds of a crash occurring were nearly double those of a driver paying attention to the road. The odds of a crash more than doubled when a driver exhibited aggressive driving behaviors.

“Unfortunately, many drivers choose to drive and behave in ways that increase their risk of crashing,” said Jack Peet, Community Safety Services manager for AAA Michigan. “It is our desire to reduce the number of crashes this holiday season by educating all drivers about specific behaviors that increase their crash risk. Although you may have driven too fast or while fatigued in the past and haven’t crashed yet, these risks are real and thus will eventually catch up with you if you continue to drive in this manner.”

Peet added that, although drunk driving was not a focus of the Foundation study, it continues to contribute to unnecessary deaths and injuries, especially during the holiday season.

The data used for the analyses in this report were collected during the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). The 100-Car Study collected naturalistic, continuous, real-time data over a 12- to 13-month period from a sample of 109 primary drivers and 132 secondary drivers in the Northern Virginia/ Washington, D.C., area. Video and electronic sensors in the vehicles allowed re-searchers to detect data on several driving behaviors (e.g., speeding, safety belt use, and so forth).

The AAA Founda-tion funded a study through VTTI with Sheila G. Klauer, Jeremy Sudweeks, Jeffrey S. Hickman and Vicki L. Neale to conduct the analysis to understand more about the relative risks associated with driving behaviors known to be dangerous from previous studies.

Midwest holiday destinations

The AAA also reported that an estimated two million Michigan residents will travel 50 miles or more from home during the upcoming Christmas/New Year’s holiday. This data confirms AAA’s latest travel survey,the highest number of travelers for this holiday period since AAA began its survey in 1999.

More travelers will take a car, truck or van to their final destinations this year (90 percent vs. 76 percent last year), while fewer will go by air (10 percent vs. 25 percent last year).

“There is a great deal of pent-up demand,” said Claire Lockley, vice president – Travel for The Auto Club Group (ACG). “A mild winter and moderate gas prices are prompting more travel opportunities.”

According to AAA’s annual holiday travel survey, 64.9 million people nationwide will travel this Christmas/New Years – the most ever.

Based on projected requests for TripTik routings, the most popular driving destinations outside Michigan are:

1) Orlando, Fla.

2) Atlanta, Ga.

3) Myrtle Beach, S.C.

4) Indianapolis, Ind.

5) Nashville, Tenn.

Other survey findings

43.5 percent of travelers in the Great Lakes region are traveling to small town or rural area as their final destination.

Friend or relative’s homes (64.2 percent) and hotels or motels (17.9 percent) are the accommodations of choice during the 2006 Christmas holiday.

Michigan motorists can expect to pay about 5 cents less for a gallon of gas this year ($2.233 as of December 13), compared with last year at this time.

The official 78-hour Christ-mas holiday period begins at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 22 and runs to 11:59 p.m. Monday, Dec. 25. The 2006-2007 New Year holiday (also 78 hours) begins at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 29 and runs to 11:59 p.m. Monday, Jan. 1, 2007.

During last year’s 78-hour Christmas holiday period, there were six traffic fatalities reported by the Michigan State Police. During last year’s 78-hour New Year holiday period, 10 people were killed on Michigan roads. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is an independent, publicly funded, charitable research and educational group.

Source: AAA Michigan

Topics Auto Michigan