National Rural Road Safety Public Opinion Survey
In spring 2010, CERS sponsored a new national survey about the attitudes of Americans toward rural driving and policies to reduce rural road fatalities. The survey, of randomly selected registered voters who drive at least once per week, explored issues such as perceived safety and distracted driving on rural roads versus other roads, public policies that would improve rural road safety, expectations of public officials on the issue of rural road safety, and the most credible messengers on the issue of rural road safety.
Survey-related materials:
- CERS survey fact sheet (193 KB PDF)
- Do Americans Oppose Controversial Evidence-Based Road Safety Policies? (Transportation Research Record, August 11, 2011)
- Survey: Americans Support Automated Speed Enforcement (Humphrey Institute Regionalities blog)
- Americans take more risks when they drive the nation's rural highways, new University of Minnesota study says (UMNews)
- Listen to an audio feature about the survey finding that drivers are unaware of summer dangers (90 seconds)
- Survey finds drivers mistakenly believe winter is most dangerous travel time (UMNews)
- Policy-related survey findings
- Watch the June 28 Webinar about the survey
- Presentation slides about the survey (655 KB PDF)
- Complete survey data (344 KB PDF)
- Survey questions (164 KB PDF)
- Application of a Rural Safety Policy Improvement Index (RSPII) Framework: Phase II (CERS research report, 2010)
- Investigation of Policy-Based Statewide Safety Measure Quantification (CERS research project)
Selected media coverage about the survey:
- Study: Drivers more prone to risk-taking on rural highways — Minnesota Public Radio, September 3, 2010
- Despite high death rate, rural drivers feel safer — Payson Roundup (Arizona), September 3, 2010
- Rural Roadways: A National Safety Dichotomy — Texas Department of Transportation podcast, August 20, 2010 (9 minutes)
- Drivers let guard down on riskier rural highways — USA Today, August 4, 2010
- Summer = dangerous driving — Deseret News, July 2, 2010
- Fourth of July: Most Dangerous Day of the Year — Discovery, July 2, 2010
- Americans underestimate risks of driving on summer holidays and rural roads — Scientific American, July 2, 2010
- Summer, Not Winter, Most Dangerous Time to Drive: 4th of July most dangerous weekend on roads in US — Fox 9 News, June 28, 2010
- U Of M Study: Summer Driving The Most Dangerous — WCCO - TV, June 28, 2010
- Survey: More support road rules (USA Today, June 3, 2010)
- U of M study: People don't mind big brother (FOX 9 News, June 5, 2010)
The survey, sponsored by CERS, was conducted by Critical Insights of Portland, Maine. The findings represent the responses of a randomized national probability sample of 1,205 registered voters who drive at least once per week. The survey was conducted from March 23, 2010 to May 6, 2010. Responses for gender, age, and state/region were weighted where necessary to bring these data into alignment with actual proportions within the U.S. population. The margin of error for questions in which the entire sample is considered is +- 2.8%. The margin of error is higher when smaller sub-populations are analyzed.
Center for Excellence in Rural Safety | University of Minnesota | Minneapolis, MN 55455 | Location & Contact Information