Drivers Strongly Support New Traffic Safety Policies
A group from NORC (National Opinion Research Center) at the University of Chicago surveyed more than 2,000 United States drivers in 2018 to understand how the public views underutilized traffic safety improvements such as seat belt laws, sobriety checkpoints, red-light cameras, etc.
As part of the initiative, the Road to Zero Coalition identified more than a dozen policies that could collectively reduce traffic fatalities by at least 50 percent. In addition to high levels of support for more sobriety checkpoints, the survey found super-majority support for nearly all of the proposed policies, including:
- Reducing local speed limits by 5 miles per hour (69%)
- Alcohol ignition locks for people who have been convicted of driving while intoxicated (83%)
- Saliva screening to prevent drugged driving (74%)
- Stricter seat belt law enforcement (82%)
- Requiring cars to have seat belt reminder chimes (70%)
- Motorcycle helmet laws (86%)
- Replacing dangerous intersections with roundabouts (73%)
- Installing rumble strips on more roads (90%)
The survey also found that drivers were taking advantage of relatively new ridesharing services to avoid drinking and driving, with 60 percent of respondents indicating they have used a ridesharing service at least once in the past year to avoid drinking and driving.
