Poll says American public concerned about Mexican truck safety

AHAS, an alliance of consumer, health, safety, insurance and law enforcement organizations, commissioned the survey to gauge the American public’s views on several highway and vehicle safety issues. Harris polled a cross-section of U.S. adults (18 years and older) on a wide range of current safety issues from the controversial red light camera debate to cell phone driver restrictions to government spending priorities.

Among the survey’s key:

• 78% of those surveyed want more attention paid to improving intersection safety. And, despite heated debates across the nation, state laws to allow the use of red light cameras as a law enforcement supplement and were favored in the poll by more than a 2-to-1 majority of the public (69%).
• 76% of those surveyed favor legislation that would restrict the use of cell phones while driving and 83% want more attention paid to the issue of cell phone use by drivers.
• 94% of those surveyed oppose access by Mexican trucks to U.S. highways without proper U.S. safety inspections.
• More than 70% of those surveyed expressed concern about the dangers of rollovers in vehicles. In addition, 85% favored a federal rollover standard.
• 83% of those polled (compared to 77% in 1999) favor an increase in federal spending on highway and auto safety programs, with 82% supporting a “penny at the pump” tax (one cent of the current 18.4 cents per gallon gas tax) to support this additional funding.