Page 9 - AAA Every Day – AAA Hudson Valley – May/June 2022

Founded in 1902 members get where they wanted to go. Now a digital
by nine motoring
organizations with 1,500
members, today, AAA is
North America’s largest
motoring and leisure travel organization with 62 million members.
Since Day One, AAA has dedicated itself to the future
of transportation by supporting safe, efficient highways and a multimodal transportation system that is accessible and affordable to everyone. AAA actively engages in traffic-safety advocacy and has been instrumental in passing important legislation across the country such as texting while driving bans, primary enforcement seat belt laws and Move Over laws protecting those working or stranded at the roadside.
In 1915, AAA was the first to introduce
a roadside service for stranded drivers. Roadside assistance is one of the most valued features of a AAA membership. We respond to approximately 30 million calls for help annually. Today, requests for roadside assistance are increasingly handled through digital channels such as the AAA mobile app, dedicated website and via text.
In 1920, AAA’s School Safety Patrol was launched to provide school-aged children with an extra sense of safety and security when going to and from school. Celebrating 100 years, the AAA School Safety Patrol program
has contributed to the steady decline of U.S. student pedestrian (ages 5–14) deaths — a 24% decrease since 2010. The renowned
program boosts more
than 679,000 Patrollers
in 35,000 schools across
North America and 30
countries.
In 1937, AAA began offering TripTiks to help
offering, TripTik and AAA TourBooks remain popular trip- planning tools. Each year AAA provides nearly 16 million routes via TripTik to travelers every year.
AAA also began field inspections of hotels and restaurants, which led to the renowned AAA Diamond program. More than 80 years later, AAA inspects 53,000+ hotels and restaurants annually offering the only comprehensive, on-site professional evaluation guided by the latest industry trends and guest priorities. This includes AAA’s newest designation, Inspected Clean, which is an objective, scientific validation of the cleanliness of common surfaces throughout hotels.
In 1947, AAA established the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety to reduce traffic deaths and injuries by researching
their causes and using those findings to educate the public about how to be safer drivers. Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, the AAA Foundation and its body of work have helped to strengthen laws, build public awareness of safety concerns and trends, inform automakers on vehicle design issues, and advise transportation agencies and highway departments on vital roadway improvements.
In 1975, AAA created its Approved Auto Repair program to address one of the most frequent consumer complaints – dissatisfaction with finding a reputable and affordable automobile repair shop. Today there are more than 6,000 AAR in the U.S. that are physically inspected by AAA and awarded this exclusive distinction.
In 1999, AAA began its mobile battery service to provide members with an on-the-go solution for battery testing and replacement at the location of their breakdown. Today, AAA is the only organization to offer mobile battery testing and replacement nationwide, responding to
more than 8.2 million battery calls annually and of those, replacing more than 2 million batteries. Because of this success, the AAA battery is now stocked and sold in NAPA stores across the country.
MAY/JUNE 2022 I 9
AAA BULLETIN
AAA Celebrates 120 Years
How It Started – How It’s Going