National Survey of Distracted and Drowsy Driving Attitudes and Behavior: 2002: Volume 1: Findings
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National Survey of Distracted and Drowsy Driving Attitudes and Behavior: 2002: Volume 1: Findings

Filetype[PDF-1.30 MB]


English
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Details:

  • Creators:
    Royal, Dawn
  • Corporate Creators:
    Gallup Organization
  • Corporate Contributors:
    United States. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Office of Research and Traffic Records
  • Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Publication/ Report Number:
    DOT-HS-809-566
  • DOI:
  • Resource Type:
    Research Paper
  • Geographical Coverage:
    United States
  • Edition:
    Final report
  • Contracting Officer:
    Tremont, Paul J.
  • Corporate Publisher:
    United States. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Office of Research and Traffic Records
  • Abstract:
    This report represents the findings on distracted driving (including cell phone use) and drowsy driving. The data come from a pair of studies undertaken by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to better understand drivers' behaviors and attitudes regarding speeding, unsafe driving, distracted and drowsy driving. This volume reports respondents' behaviors and attitudes on various topics related to distracted and drowsy driving. Volume II presents the data on speeding and unsafe driving, while Volume III describes the methods used to conduct the interviews and analyze the data, and also contains the questionnaires. The data will be used to help identify the extent to which potentially distracting behaviors are undertaken by drivers and to understand the characteristics of those engaging in these behaviors so that programs can be developed to reduce these behaviors where they have been shown to be dangerous. The data come from two surveys each conducted among nationally representative samples of drivers during the Spring of 2002. Interviews were conducted with a total of 4,010 drivers in the U.S. The survey findings show that most drivers at least occasionally engage in behaviors that draw some of their attention away from their driving task. The most common of these behaviors include general activities of talking with other passengers (81%), changing radio stations or CDs (66%), and eating or drinking while driving (49%). While it is estimated that more than a billion driving trips are made weekly by drivers engaging in each of these behaviors, fewer than one in four drivers perceive these particular activities as distracting or as making driving much more dangerous. About one in four drivers uses a cell phone while driving for either inbound (26%) or outbound calls (25%), while a similar proportion deals with children in a back seat (24%). Close to one-half of drivers perceive these behaviors to make driving much more dangerous, although drivers who use cell phones are only half as less likely as nonusers to feel cell phone use is dangerous. Regarding drowsy driving, over a third (37%) of drivers report having nodded off or falling asleep at least once since they began driving. Eight percent have done so in the past six months. Nearly half of drivers who nodded off report doing so between 9:00PM and 6:00AM. About one quarter (26%) of drivers have been involved in a crash in the past five years. About 3.5% of drivers attribute a crash they've had in the past 5 years to their being distracted (including 0.8% looking for something outside of their vehicle and 0.7% dealing with children), 0.7% attribute a crash they've had to drowsy driving, while 0.1% of drivers attribute a crash they've had to their cell phone use. Projected nationally, these figures amount to an estimated 7.17 million drivers involved in a crash they attribute to distracted driving, about 1.35 million drivers in a crash attributed to drowsy driving and about 292,000 drivers in a crash attributed to cell phone use over the past 5 years.
  • Format:
    PDF
  • Funding:
    282-00-0017
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