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Each year an estimated 284,000
distracted drivers are involved in serious crashes, according to a new
study by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center
funded by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
"We found that 15 percent of
drivers in the study were not paying attention and just over half of these
(8.3 percent) were distracted by something inside or outside the vehicle,"
said Dr. Jane Stutts, manager of epidemiological studies at the UNC center
and author of the study. When drivers with unknown attention status were
removed from the data, the percentage of distracted drivers rose to 12.9
percent.
Stutts will testify about the
study at a congressional hearing in Washington D.C., on May 9. She will
be testifying before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's
Subcommittee on Highways and Transit at 10 a.m.
The study found that drivers
were most often distracted by something outside their vehicle (29.4 percent)
followed by adjusting a radio or CD player (11.4 percent). Other specific
distractions included talking with other occupants (10.9 percent), adjusting
vehicle or climate controls (2.8 percent), eating or drinking (1.7 percent),
cell-phone use (1.5 percent) and smoking (0.9 percent).
"Different age groups appear
to be distracted by different things," Stutts said. Drivers under 20 were
especially likely to be distracted by tuning the radio or changing CDs,
while young adults (ages 20 - 29) seemed to be more distracted by other
passengers. Drivers over 65 were more distracted by objects or events
happening outside the vehicle. Most of the distracted drivers were male
(63 percent), in part because as a group males drive more than females
and are more likely to be involved in serious crashes. Researchers used
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Crashworthiness Data
System (CDS) for the study. The CDS examines a sample of approximately
5,000 crashes a year in which at least one vehicle was damaged enough
to require towing. Federal investigators collect detailed information
about each crash, including examination of the vehicle and crash scene
and interviews with drivers and witnesses. The UNC center's study used
data from 1995 through 1999 and included 32,303 vehicles.
The University of North Carolina
Highway Safety Research Center conducts interdisciplinary research aimed
at reducing deaths, injuries and related societal costs of roadway crashes
in North Carolina and the nation. The Center's research addresses crashes
involving motor vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians, and takes into account
the various human, vehicular, roadway and environmental components of
these risks.
The AAA Foundation for Traffic
Safety is an independent, publicly funded, 501 (c)(3) charitable research
and educational organization founded by the American Automobile Association
in 1947. The AAA Foundation’s mission is to prevent traffic deaths and
injuries by conducting research into their causes and by educating the
public about strategies to prevent crashes.
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For more
information contact Emily Smith at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center
at 919/962-7803 or Stephanie Faul at the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety,
202/638-5944 x 4. Downloadable graphs and photographs are available on
the website of the UNC Highway Safety Research Center at http://www.hsrc.unc.edu/
and from AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety website at http://www.aaafoundation.org.
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