AAA Offers Transportation Subcommittee Crash Prevention Strategy to Reduce Death Toll On Nation's Roads

    WASHINGTON--June 27, 2002--In testimony before a U.S. House transportation subcommittee today, a AAA safety expert said the most effective way of reducing highway fatalities is to implement strategies that prevent crashes from ever occurring in the first place.
    "If I could leave you with just one message today, that would be the importance of pre-crash prevention," said Dr. Bella Dinh-Zarr, Ph.D., Director of Traffic Safety Policy for AAA.
    "We all know the old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," said Dr. Dinh-Zarr. "If we invest in the pre-crash prevention strategy now, we won't have to face the tremendous burden of losses due to crashes in the future."
    Dinh-Zarr discussed AAA's pre-crash strategy before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, which is holding hearings on various approaches to improve highway safety.
    According to Dr. Dinh-Zarr, one of the more innovative ways of making roads safer is through the funding of demonstration projects to encourage improvements at intersections.
    "Intersection safety affects all of us, but children and seniors are especially vulnerable," said Dinh-Zarr. "Each year, there are almost three million crashes at intersections with a toll of over 9,000 lives lost."
    She cited the Michigan Road Improvement Demonstration Program, a public-private partnership sponsored by AAA Michigan, as a great example of how safety measures at intersections such as well-placed traffic signs, pavement markings, adjustments in signal timing and left-hand turn lanes have significantly reduced crashes and injuries.
    Dr. Dinh-Zarr also cited the need for better crash causation data that will help identify ways to prevent crashes from occurring.
    "We need data that is collected within five minutes of the crash, rather than five days after the crash," said Dinh-Zarr. "Much of the useful information is lost when so much time elapses."
    When it comes to drunk driving, Dinh-Zarr said, 20 percent of drunk driving by problem drinkers accounts for over 40 percent of drunk driving trips.
    She said that shows we could address the problem of drunk driving more effectively by establishing a system to evaluate various drunk driving prevention programs, reinvigorate coordinated state enforcement task forces and simplify the state grant authorization process.
    All of these recommendations, she noted, are highlighted in a recent AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety report entitled "Drunk Driving: Seeking Additional Solutions".
    As North America's largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA provides its 45 million members with travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services. Since its founding in 1902, the not-for-profit, fully tax paying AAA has been a leader and advocate for the safety and security of all travelers.

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