American Driving Survey

Introduction

The ability to quantify traffic risk is fundamental to the research and mission of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. This requires two general types of data: (a) data on the number of people involved, injured, or killed in crashes, (b) data on the amount of driving that people do. Since 2013, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has been conducting its annual American Driving Survey to collect driving exposure information in relation to driver, vehicle, and trip characteristics.

Project Goal and Plan

The goal of this project is to collect national-level data on the driving habits and patterns of the American public. Each year a randomly selected, nationally representative sample of over 5,000 people aged 16 years and older is invited to participate in an online or telephone interview in which they report detailed information about all of the driving, walking, and other travel that they did on the previous day, with interviews spread over all days of the year. Combining data from participants interviewed on different days of the year, the data are used to produce annualized national estimates.  Annual reports or research briefs provide highlights of the national-level findings about the daily driving patterns of the American public. Data have been used to examine crash risk in relation to driver age, examine ways in which travel changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and produce updated annual estimates of the nation’s travel each year.