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<< Traffic Safety 

<< Back Print Version

Most Americans Think They're More Likely to be in a Serious Motor Vehicles Crash Than a Violent Crime

Number 200 May 1999

U.S. Department of Transportation

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 

400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590

MOST AMERICANS THINK THEY'RE MORE LIKELY TO BE IN A SERIOUS MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH THAN A VIOLENT CRIME

Most Americans (60 percent) think that compared to ten years ago, people today drive less safely. Even more (72 percent) feel that they are more likely to be a victim of a serious motor vehicle crash than a victim of a violent crime. In an era when people want less government, they say the government should play a major role in keeping roads safe.

Approximately 4,000 randomly selected people aged 16 or older participated in the NHTSA 1997 Customer Satisfaction Survey in November and December 1997. This nationally representative survey indicates that the public sees transportation safety as a cross-cutting issue. The role they want the government to play includes setting vehicle safety standards and providing safety information to the public. They also think that the government should lead in promoting safe driving behaviors, such as using seat belts and child safety seats, reducing drunk driving, and using bicycle and motorcycle helmets.

The Importance of Vehicle Safety

When making vehicle purchases, 74 percent of drivers surveyed think safety is a critical element in deciding which motor vehicle to buy. Those who want crashworthiness information before buying jumped from 18 percent in 1995 to 30 percent in 1997. Only 49 percent of drivers reported that they actually had used safety information when making a purchase. Of these, one-half said the information affected their decision "a lot" on which vehicle to buy while another 40 percent said it affected their decision "some." The majority (80.5 percent) think it is very important that comparative safety ratings of motor vehicles be available to consumers. Even more, 84 percent, either somewhat or strongly favor government crash testing of vehicles to determine how well they protect passengers in a crash.

Besides what the federal government does, each state enacts its own safety laws and programs. How important is it for the federal government to encourage states to do the following things?

(Percentage who answered "very important")

Increase enforcement of drinking and driving laws 89%

Increase enforcement of car seat laws for infants and young children 86%

Pass tougher drinking and driving laws 84%

Require helmets for motorcycle riders 74%

Stiffen requirements for young drivers to get and keep driving licenses 75%

Require bicycle helmets for children 71%

Increase enforcement of seat belt laws 70%

Pass tougher seat belt laws 62%

Most Americans (59 percent) believe that setting motor vehicle standards for passenger protection should fall to the government, while nearly one third (32 percent) think that responsibility should belong to manufacturers.

Reducing the Crash Problem

An overwhelming majority (95 percent) believe that most crashes are caused by driver error, rather than vehicle failures (2 percent). Eighty percent feel that the number of serious injuries in motor vehicle crashes could be reduced through more public education in areas from general driver education, to reducing speeding and drinking and driving.

Interestingly, when asked if there was anything manufacturers should do to reduce the crash problem, 45 percent said yes, but nearly as many (42 percent) said no. When asked a similar question - on whether the government should do anything to reduce the number of serious injuries - more people (53 percent) said yes. The kinds of things that they think the government should act on include educating the public, setting stricter standards, and providing more enforcement.

Public Information and Education

A large majority of Americans (89 percent) consider driver education courses to be very important in training new drivers to drive safely. Many (73 percent) think that the federal government should provide financial support to states and localities for that training.

When asked to recall whether they had read materials in the last year on drinking and driving, 67 percent said that they had. About half had read about child safety seats and seat belt laws. Forty percent recalled reading about vehicle safety standards.

Awareness of Telephone Hotlines

Almost three-quarters (74 percent) of Americans believe it is very important to have a national hotline number where drivers can report safety defects that they have experienced. Only 29 percent, however, knew such a hotline exists, while even fewer (21 percent) were aware of a hotline to obtain general traffic safety information. Just a fraction of these persons could identify NHTSA as the sponsoring agency. (NHTSA's hotline is 1-888-DASH-2-DOT.)

The Government Role

The American public looks to NHTSA for many things. For example, 71 percent consider it very important for the federal government to provide comparative ratings on the safety of new vehicles. They want public information and education campaigns to promote seat belt usage (71 percent think it is very important) and child safety seat usage (82 percent think it is very important), and to reduce drunk driving (86 percent think it is very important). They want the government to conduct research on motor vehicle safety, and to require manufacturers to improve the safety features on passenger vehicles.

How We're Doing

As part of the National Performance Review, NHTSA uses information from these surveys to evaluate its performance. In areas like drinking and driving, safety seats for children, seat belt laws, and traffic safety statistics, 8 to 10 percent more people had read materials about these topics in 1997 than in 1995 when the last survey was done. This is encouraging.

In the two short years between the surveys, however, more people think others drive less safely now (60 vs 48 percent) compared to 10 years ago. They also are less likely to consider motor vehicles safer now than 10 years ago (50 vs 59 percent). Other declines occurred in the percentage of the public who favored the government setting crash protection and vehicle safety equipment standards, although large majorities still considered these important government functions. There also was a drop in the level of customer satisfaction among persons who had directly contacted NHTSA, based on less than 2 percent of the sample.

How To Order

To obtain a copy of the report, NHTSA 1997 Customer Satisfaction Survey, write to the Office of Research and Traffic Records, NHTSA, NTS-31, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC, 20590, or send a fax to (202) 366-7096. Alan Block was the contract manager for this project.

U.S. Department 

of Transportation 

National Highway 

Traffic Safety 

Administration

400 Seventh Street, S.W. NTS-31 

Washington, DC 20590

Traffic Tech is a publication to disseminate 

information about traffic safety programs, 

including evaluations, innovative programs, 

and new publications. Feel free to copy it as you wish. 

If you would like to receive a copy contact: 

Linda Cosgrove, Ph.D., Editor, Evaluation Staff 

Traffic Safety Programs 

(202) 366-2759, fax (202) 366-7096

mailto:lcosgrove@nhtsa.dot.gov

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