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Crime & Safety

People Becoming Less Concerned About Drunken Driving — Even As Deaths Increase

A survey shows that the percentage of people who believe driving after drinking is a serious danger declined a staggering amount: from 90 percent in 2009 to 69 percent in 2012.

By Dennis Robaugh


Do aggressive drivers and drunken drivers bother you? If so, you might be among an increasing minority, reports Aol Autos.

Americans are less likely to to see dangerous driving behaviors such as drunken, aggressive or drowsy driving as a threat to themselves or other drivers on the road, according to an analysis of four years of public surveys conducted by AAA.

The troubling decrease in concern about such activities comes alongside the first annual increase in traffic fatalities in seven years. Deaths were up an estimated 5.3 percent, totaling 34,080 in 2012, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). 

The survey showed that the percentage of people who believed driving after drinking was a serious danger declined a staggering amount: from 90 percent in 2009 to 69 percent in 2012. Additionally, the number of people who considered drowsy driving to be a dangerous activity declined from 71 percent to 46 percent over the same time period.

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