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AAA Says Driving Report Defies Logic

9 March 1999

AAA Says Driving Report Defies Logic

    WASHINGTON, March 8 -- AAA said today that a report released
by the Surface Transportation Policy Project is totally illogical and is not
based on the facts.
    "To say that new traffic lanes fail to ease congestion and that highway
congestion does not cause aggressive driving defies logic," said Jim Kolstad,
vice president, AAA public and government relations.
    The STPP report ranks 10 metro areas with the highest aggressive driving
death rates.  It shows there is more aggressive driving in Orlando, Kansas
City and San Antonio than there is in Boston and New York.
    "Does anyone really believe this," Kolstad asked.
    He pointed out that states do not report fatalities caused by aggressive
driving because they have not agreed upon a definition.  The report counts
speeding as aggressive driving, although all speeders are not necessarily
driving aggressively.
    AAA said that because traffic is growing at more than 25 times the rate of
increased roadway capacity, the net result has to be increased congestion.
Since 1970, vehicle miles traveled have increased by 123 percent, but road
mileage has risen by a scant 5 percent.
    "Using gas tax dollars for their intended purpose -- maintaining and
improving the nation's transportation system -- will help reduce traffic
accidents, lower fatalities and relieve traffic congestion," Kolstad said.
    AAA is a not-for-profit federation of 91 motor clubs with more than
1,100 offices providing more than 41 million members in the United States and
Canada with travel, insurance, financial and auto-related services.
AAA news releases can be downloaded from http://www.aaa.com/news