Changes within the nation’s largest auto club and its controversial report on car/truck crashes have drawn the attention of the national media. Wednesday, USA Today reported that AAA is changing, morphing into a travel services powerhouse and away from safety.

Part of the story focused on a draft report prepared recently by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, in which they concluded that car drivers are responsible for about 70 percent of crashes between cars and trucks. Unsafe driving factors among car drivers, the draft reported, included fatigue, following improperly, and improper lane changes. RoadStar first reported on that draft study in the April issue, noting that the AAA figure backs up a U.S. Department of Transportation analysis.
A dispute over the report led to the resignation of Foundation President David Willis, according to USA Today, after AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety chief Robert Darbelnet questioned the need to publish the report because it might alienate members.
While Willis refused to comment on the story to USA Today, just as he did with RoadStar, he did tell RoadStar reporter Oliver Patton that within AAA, “whenever trucks aren’t the bad guys, certain people react badly.”
Darbelnet told USA Today that the truck safety study is under review by outside experts and should be released by June.
The controversial truck crash study is just one of several incidents in a long-running fuel between AAA’s for-profit travel business and its nonprofit public interest side, reports the paper. Willis was not the only AAA safety advocate to resign or retire early, according to the paper. Two other top consumer advocates have also left because of the shift in emphasis.