RENO -- This month the Center for Research Design and Analysis at University of Nevada-Reno has released the results of its annual telephone survey about Nevadans' driving behaviors and attitudes. This survey was funded by the Department of Public Safety, Office of Traffic Safety.

Beginning on March 27th of 2012, CRDA at UNR collected data to measure the public’s awareness of the campaign, their perceptions of enforcement, and their self-reported behavior. The sample ranged in size from 1,651 to 1,816 numbers, both land line and cell phones. Data collection concluded on July 22nd, of 2012.

The objectives of this survey included gathering self-reported driving behavior and opinion data on key safety issues, such as impaired driving, safety belts, speeding, and distracted driving. For example: the self reported data shows that over the past year, there was a modest rise in the percentage of Nevadans reporting that they always use seatbelts (85.2% in 2011 vs. 91% in 2012); 15.6% of Nevadans indicate that they drive faster than 70 mph half the time (compared to 20% in 2011), and 13.7% reported that they exceed this speed limit by at least 5 mph most of the time (compared to 9.5% in 2011).

In 2010, all states agreed to conduct and report information from driver surveys annually.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) agreed on a core set of nine survey questions.   The nine core NHTSA-GHSA questions address self-reported behavior, media awareness, and enforcement awareness for each of the three major highway safety areas: impaired driving, seat belt use, and speeding. The survey also provided basic demographic information for the respondents: age and gender, ethnicity, residential Zip Code, type of vehicle driven most frequently, etc. Nevada asked additional questions that addressed its new distracted driving law, traffic enforcement programs, and media campaigns.

Respondent selection and eligibility in the study was based on the following criteria, verified at contact: the number must be a private residence in Nevada (or a personal cell phone in the cell phone random sample) and the respondent must be (1) 18 years of age or older, (2) have a valid driver's license (in any state), and (3) have driven in Nevada within the past 60 days. Passengers, pedestrians, and those who only ride bicycles or drive mopeds or scooters were not eligible for the study.

When answering the question - “What caused the frequency with which you send and receive text messages or e-mails while driving to decrease?” some 32.7% credited the decrease to their increased awareness of safety, 48.6% indicated a decrease because of the law that bans cell phone use while driving, 7.7% reported it was because they did not want to receive a ticket, and another 3.6% attributed it to influence/pressure from others. A sizable proportion of respondents (18.4%) cited a different reason for their decrease in texting/emailing while driving, including a general decrease in driving and having a passenger text or email on the driver’s behalf.

The survey was conducted because self-reported surveys can provide valuable information from drivers or the general public that can’t be obtained another way. This information includes views on the priorities of various traffic safety issues and on potential law or policy changes, knowledge of laws and pen

The full report can be accessed at: http://ots.state.nv.us/Publications/AttitudinalSurvey2012FINAL.pdf