American Driving Survey: 2022
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Summary
This research brief presents findings from the 2022 American Driving Survey (ADS), conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, to quantify daily driving patterns in the United States and assess changes relative to 2020 and 2021. The study was motivated by the need to understand how travel behaviors evolved as the U.S. recovered from the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically examining whether pre-pandemic trends were returning or if new patterns had emerged. The methodology involved online and telephone interviews with approximately 5,100 participants annually from a pre-recruited research panel. Respondents reported all travel undertaken on the day prior to the interview. Data were weighted to align with U.S. demographic characteristics, and trip distances or durations were imputed for 3% of trips with missing or erroneous data. Statistical significance of changes between years was evaluated using t-tests at the 95% confidence level. In 2022, 94.5% of U.S. residents aged 16 and older drove at least occasionally, a statistically unchanged rate from previous years. Drivers averaged 2.44 trips, 60.2 minutes, and 30.1 miles per day. Projected nationwide, 255 million drivers made 227 billion trips, spending 93 billion hours and driving 2.8 trillion miles; these totals represented small, non-significant decreases from 2021. Demographic analysis revealed that drivers aged 35–49 drove the most, while Hispanic/Latino drivers reported higher driving volumes than other ethnic groups, a shift from pre-pandemic trends where White non-Hispanic drivers drove the most. Additionally, drivers with some college or a two-year degree drove more than those with higher education levels, reversing earlier patterns where higher education correlated with more driving. Non-metropolitan residents drove more than metropolitan residents, returning to pre-pandemic trends after a reversal in 2021. The significance of these findings lies in identifying which pandemic-induced shifts were temporary and which persisted. While overall driving volumes stabilized, disparities in driving exposure by age, education, and ethnicity continued to evolve. The brief notes that these exposure trends may relate to traffic safety disparities, particularly given that night driving—associated with higher fatality risks—showed increased trip durations. The authors conclude that while broad driving quantities returned to near-normal levels, emerging demographic patterns require further investigation to understand their impact on traffic safety equity and risk exposure.
Key finding
In 2022, U.S. drivers made an average of 2.44 daily trips, spent 60.2 minutes driving, and traveled 30.1 miles, representing statistically unchanged levels compared to 2021.
Methodology
survey
Sample size: 5081
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 | 3 | 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