Speeding is bad but we do it anyway, Alberta drivers tell AMA

Alberta drivers frown on speeding but they do it anyway, a new survey from the Alberta Motor Association shows.

We also think bad driving behaviour is getting worse while insisting we're not to blame.

• Edmonton drivers know better but take risks anyway, traffic study finds

Survey results released Tuesday showed that 82 per cent of Albertans said speeding is "never acceptable" on residential roads but 52 per cent admitted to doing it.

And 95 per cent of respondents said speeding is never acceptable in school zones, but 29 per cent admitted they have done just that.

On highways however, only 18 per cent consider speeding unacceptable and 91 per cent confessed to doing it.

"There's a real disconnect between Albertans' concerns around traffic safety overall and their own admitted behaviours while behind the wheel," Jeff Kasbrick, the AMA's vice-president of government and stakeholder relations, said in a news release.

"With speeding, this study paints an unfortunate picture of, 'Do as I say, not as I do.' The first step in making our roads safer begins with our own actions."

The telephone survey was conducted April 18 to May 16 for the AMA Foundation for Traffic Safety. It used a random sample of 1,800 adult Albertans. A poll of this size is considered accurate within 2.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, the AMA said.

Drivers seeing more road rage

The survey also looked at attitudes about alcohol, cannabis, road rage, aggressive driving and distracted driving.

Nearly half of the survey respondents saw drinking and driving as only a slight threat, or no threat at all, to their personal safety. More than half of respondents said they are not concerned about people using cannabis before driving.

Kasbrick warned against complacency in light of those findings. "Impaired driving, whether alcohol or drug-related, is a far too present reality on Alberta roads, and a very serious traffic safety issue."

Just under half (49 per cent) of all respondents said they believe road rage incidents are worse now than they were three years ago, while 57 per cent believe aggressive driving is worse and 72 per cent believe there is more distracted driving.

But who's doing all that bad driving? Don't look at the survey respondents: 65 per cent rated themselves as more careful than other drivers, and another 33 per cent said they were about as careful as others. (That's 98 per cent of us.)