AAA Kansas Safety Fund announces driver awareness campaign
TOPEKA — The AAA Kansas Member Fund for traffic safety education joined forces with the Kansas Association of Broadcasters (KAB) to air non-commercial announcements focusing on driving distractions and the dangers of deer as the cause of car crashes.
"The trustees of the Kansas Member Fund for traffic safety education looked at a wide range of traffic safety issues in Kansas," explained James R. Hanni, executive vice president, Kansas Region of AAA. "They found that the top contributing circumstance (33 percent) in traffic accidents is failure to give full time and attention to driving. Failure to yield the right-of-way was in a distant second place, with 11 percent of accidents."
AAA learned that nearly 12 percent of all traffic accidents involved striking a deer as the "first harmful event" of an accident.
"In some counties in Kansas, deer involvement in traffic accidents is as high as 50 percent of all traffic accidents." he said. "This is the optimal time to discuss this topic as we are entering peak deer hunting season."
Beginning Oct. 1, a 60-second non-commercial announcement will air to make drivers more aware of the presence of deer. In addition, two 30-second non-commercial announcements will discuss the dangers of distracted driving.
An average of 60 to 70 radio stations will air more than 2,500 announcements throughout the day and evening until December. The AAA Kansas Member Fund for traffic safety education contributed $10,000 to KAB's public education program to fund the announcements as an extension of communicating AAA's message on vehicle, driver and road safety.
