Citation

Tefft BC, Villavicencio L, Benson A, Arnold LS, Kim W, Añorve V, Horrey WJ. AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Washington, D.C.: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2022.

Copyright

(Copyright 2022, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety)

The full document is available online.

Abstract

The number and rate of traffic fatalities in the United States have increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite a large reduction in the total number of miles driven on U.S. roads. Increases in crashes involving driver impairment, speeding, and seatbelt non-use have been observed; however, the reasons why such risky driving behaviors and negative traffic safety outcomes increased during the pandemic remain unclear. The current study examines data from a survey of driving behavior among the American public conducted in the fall of 2020, to investigate the relationship between respondents' self-reported risky driving behaviors and changes in how much they drove during the pandemic. While only an estimated 4% of U.S. drivers reported that they increased their driving due to the pandemic, they tended to be younger than those who reported not changing or decreasing how much they drove, and a greater proportion were male. They were also more likely to report engaging in a wide array of risky driving behaviors including distracted driving, speeding, aggressive driving, substance-impaired driving, and seatbelt non-use. Importantly, their higher rates of risky behaviors were not fully explained by their demographic characteristics nor their frequency of driving. Results thus suggest that at least some of the increase in crash rates observed during the COVID 19 pandemic may be attributable to an increase in driving among a small subset of drivers with both higher baseline risk and greater propensity to engage in risky driving behaviors. Although these data do not indicate the reasons why a small subset of drivers increased their driving nor why they are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, they provide some insights into the increased risks on U.S. roads during a period when aggregate metrics of travel showed decreases.