American Driving Survey Year One May 2013 – May 2014
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Summary
This report presents the methodology and first-year results of the American Driving Survey (ADS), a national data collection initiative launched by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety in May 2013. The study addresses a critical gap in traffic safety research: the lack of current, individual-level data linking driving exposure to specific driver, vehicle, and trip characteristics. While aggregate vehicle miles traveled are routinely tracked, existing national surveys like the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) are conducted infrequently, hindering the ability to monitor trends and understand the mechanisms behind changes in crash and fatality rates. The ADS aims to provide ongoing, detailed exposure data, with a specific focus on young and senior drivers. The ADS employs a continuous telephone survey design administered by Social Science Research Solutions. The sample includes U.S. residents aged 16 and older reachable by landline or cellular phone, with oversampling of teenagers, drivers aged 75+, and frequent drivers. During the first year (May 2013–May 2014), 3,319 drivers were interviewed. Respondents reported all trips made during a 24-hour period preceding the interview. Data were weighted to align with U.S. demographic distributions. The survey distinguishes itself from the NHTS by using recall rather than diaries and including cell-phone-only households. Key findings indicate that drivers aged 16 and older drive an average of 29.2 miles per day, totaling approximately 10,658 miles annually. Men drove significantly more miles than women, and non-Hispanic whites drove more than African American or Hispanic respondents. Driving volume peaked among drivers aged 30–49, while teenagers and those aged 75+ drove the least. Approximately 31.6% of drivers did not drive on their reporting day. Vehicle usage was dominated by cars (50% of miles) and SUVs/pickups (40%). Seasonal variations showed higher mileage in summer and lower in winter, with weekdays seeing more driving than weekends. Household data revealed an average of 2.1 vehicles and 1.8 drivers per household. Among seniors aged 75+, 30% reported never driving, while 53% of teenagers held a driver’s license. The ADS estimates closely matched the 2009 NHTS, with only a 0.7% difference in average daily miles, validating the survey’s accuracy. However, ADS data showed higher driving levels for young and older drivers compared to the NHTS. This ongoing survey provides a vital tool for traffic safety researchers to quantify risk exposure in real-time, enabling more precise analysis of how demographic factors and driving behaviors influence crash risks, particularly for vulnerable populations like teens and seniors.
Key finding
In year one of the American Driving Survey (May 2013–May 2014), U.S. drivers ages 16+ averaged 29.2 miles driven per day (~10,658 miles per year), with men, Caucasians, and weekday drivers reporting higher mileage than women, other racial groups, and weekend drivers; teenagers and drivers 75+ drove significantly fewer miles, and about one-third made no driving trips on their reporting day.
Methodology
survey
Sample size: N=3,319 drivers interviewed (from 4,287 households initially contacted)
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_aaa_foundation on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | aaa_foundation | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 19 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence
- Methodological Resource: dataset resource