“Motor vehicle crashes suddenly, prematurely and violently end the lives of tens of thousands of Americans each year – killing more of our children, teens and young adults than any other single cause,” continued Kissinger. “Using a phone while driving increases your risk of being in a crash fourfold due to the physical, visual and mental distractions. As a society, we no longer can let distraction kill.”

As part of AAA’s commitment to improving highway safety for its members and all road users, the auto club launched a legislative campaign in 2009 to ban texting while driving in all 50 states. “AAA’s legislative campaign has helped lead 11 more states to enact laws against this risky driving behavior this year, bringing the total to 30 states and the District of Columbia,” said AAA President and CEO Robert L. Darbelnet. “But the AAA Foundation’s research points to the continued work needed to convince motorists to not engage in behavior that puts themselves, their passengers and others at risk.”

The AAA Foundation continues to shed light on the lack of American traffic safety culture and is working to build a social climate in which traffic safety is highly valued and rigorously pursued. Given the preventable nature of the majority of traffic deaths, the AAA Foundation implores drivers to stay off the phone, buckle up, don’t drink and drive, obey the speed limit and arrive alive. For more information, visit www.AAAFoundation.org.

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Established in 1947 by AAA, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is an independent, publicly funded, 501(c)(3) charitable research

and educational organization. The AAA Foundation’s mission is to prevent traffic deaths and injuries by conducting research into

their causes and by educating the public about strategies to prevent crashes and reduce injuries when they do occur.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety commissioned Abt SRBI Inc. to conduct a random sample telephone survey of 2,000 U.S.

adults in English and in Spanish from May 11, 2010 through June 7, 2010. The survey has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.