In the Rearview: AAA Northeast’s 2023 Highlights

Here’s a look at how AAA Northeast and its members have made a difference in our communities, on our roadways and for our planet in the past year.

Volunteerism

Our employees logged more than 8,300 hours of volunteerism, helping with a broad range of human needs, including food insecurity, shelter and housing, children, health and inclusion.

Community Involvement

Members came out for several AAA-supported community activities this year.

Outdoor cleanups: Last spring, more than 350 members labored alongside AAA employees at 16 Earth Day-related outdoor cleanups at beaches, parks and other public spaces around our territory.

Food donations: Hundreds more showed up to help us fight food insecurity, donating generously to our annual summer food drive at all of our branches. We raised more than 4,100 items for 42 neighborhood food banks and pantries this year.

Clothing drive: Our annual warm clothing drive in December did just as well, thanks in large part to our members.

Greeting cards: Members helped us bring smiles to the faces of people living in care facilities and homeless shelters, by participating in our greeting card campaigns, sending hundreds of heartfelt messages to people at 16 organizations.

Heart Health: Some of our members – Kim Dolan, Caroline Goggin and Carol Conley – shared their personal stories in support of the Southern New England Heart Walk. Almost 100 AAA Northeast employees took part in the Heart Walk.

Inclusion: In November, 130 schools throughout the Northeast participated in Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day, a social justice initiative started by AAA School Safety Patrollers in 2018. More than a half-million people across the nation did the same.

Traffic Safety

State legislatures across the territory passed several AAA-supported bills to better protect drivers, passengers and other roadway users, while AAA traffic safety experts performed educational outreach on some key issues.

Slow Down Move Over: Drivers in New York and Rhode Island are now required to reduce their speed and change lanes, if possible, when approaching any vehicle on the side of the road. Previously, the laws in these states applied only to emergency vehicles and tow trucks on the side of the road. Connecticut already has the expanded law, while efforts in Massachusetts and New Jersey are ongoing. The U.S. Senate this year also approved a resolution supporting these laws.

Driver impairment: Connecticut and Rhode Island will incorporate lessons on cannabis impairment into state driver training curriculums, joining Massachusetts, which began teaching it this year. These efforts are inspired by the AAA program Shifting Gears: The Blunt Truth About Marijuana and Driving. Developed by AAA Northeast, this program was delivered in nearly 300 high school classrooms this year, reaching over 23,000 students.

Preventing fatalities: The Connecticut Legislature passed a Vision Zero bill that aims to reduce driver and pedestrian deaths. It includes many AAA recommendations, among them red light and speed camera authorization in accordance with AAA policy and education about prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

Child Passenger Safety: New Hampshire passed a law requiring children under 2 years old to be placed in a rear-facing child safety seat while in an automobile. It was the 20th state to enact such a law, with Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island among them. Additionally, AAA’s certified child passenger safety experts conducted over two dozen car seat clinics, educating nearly 300 caregivers about safely transporting children in a vehicle, helping with the proper installation of car seats and ensuring that the seats meet current safety standards.

Environmental Efforts

In spring 2023, AAA Northeast released its inaugural environmental, social and governance report outlining measures it will take toward a target of net-zero emissions by 2045.

Greener vehicles: Toward that end, we’re replacing our roadside assistance fleet trucks with greener options, including electric Ford F-150 Lightings. We deployed the first few in Rhode Island earlier this fall and plan to have about 30 more on the road across our territory in early 2024. We also introduced electric Hyundai Ioniqs to the AAA Driving School fleet this year, so new drivers have the option to experience the type of vehicle they will likely be driving not long from now.

EV education: We’re helping established drivers with the transition to electric vehicles as well. This year, we launched a website entirely devoted to news, information and insights about EVs, along with resources to help drivers conduct their own research.

Reducing waste: Another area we’re addressing is paper and plastic waste. Our members are helping on that front as well, with almost half embracing the digital membership experience. They enjoy all of the AAA benefits while forgoing a plastic card, paper communications and mail delivery for the ease of managing their memberships online or through the AAA Mobile app. In fact, more than 48,000 members signed up for digital membership during our Plastic Free July campaign this year, and we held up our pledge to donate $1 to the National Forest Foundation for each enrollment – the equivalent of saving up to 48,000 trees.

Your AAA: Members have been choosing the online experience of Your AAA Network over its print counterpart to the point that digital subscriptions eclipsed print in recent years. So, in 2023, we decided to sunset Your AAA magazine. Not only does this align with AAA Northeast’s environmental goals, saving over 600 tons of paper annually, it allows us to focus on further enhancements to our online content.

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Member Service

Roadside Assistance: This year, AAA came to the aid of more than 2.8 million members experiencing car trouble.

• 50% of those calls were tows.
• 18% were for dead batteries replacements.
• 17% were for flat tires.
• 14% were for jump-starts.
• 8% were for lockouts. Believe it or not, over 225,000 members locked their keys in their cars.

Travel: Members used AAA travel services to book over 275,000 trips with help from our expert travel advisors.

Top Vacation Destinations in 2023

• Orlando, Fla.
• Aruba
• Italy,
• Ireland
• Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Top Cruising Destinations in 2023

• European Rivers
• Bermuda
• Alaska
• Mediterranean
• Bahamas

TSA PreCheck: This year, AAA Northeast introduced TSA PreCheck services at select branches in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island and is working with TSA to expand the availability across the territory.

Travelers also took advantage of other travel services, including more than 310,000 getting passport photos or International Driving Permits, available only at AAA. And more than 45,000 members used our currency exchange service.

State vehicle registry services: More than 475,000 members visited AAA for state driver’s license and vehicle registration services at participating branches in Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island.

Driving training: About 6,500 student drivers turned to AAA Driving School for instruction this year.

• 135 classroom and 52,000 hours of behind-the-wheel instruction.
• 19,200 Defensive Driving program participants, over 12,500 online students and another 6,700 students in the classroom.

We’re looking forward to what we can do with and for AAA members in 2024.