John B. Townsend II has been the oft-quoted spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic since October 2004.
Do you remember the first press release you wrote?
There were the perennials. One of the first releases I did was deer/vehicle collisions, then winterizing your car. The big issue then was a spate of teen driving fatalities, especially in Maryland.
What kind of car do you own?
A Ford 500, my first six-cylinder. Every car I’ve owned previously, it was a V-8. Then gas prices started their run. When I purchased a car last year I said, ‘Hmm, I’m going to economize.’ But I like power.
What do you do to save on gas?
I think I’m more mindful of consolidating trips. I have to use the car for work so I put a whole lot more miles on it. If I have to go somewhere for work, and I have some other business to take care of at the same time, I try to take care of that as well. And I take the Metro as much as possible for meetings, though that might sound counter to AAA.
Working for AAA, they don’t make you drive everywhere?
I think there’s some people who are wedded totheir car. I’m not. I think we have to send a strong message to people, although we represent motorists, that in D.C. we have the opportunity to use other modes of transportation.
If you had a magic wand, what one regional transportation problem would you fix?
The huge fatality rate. Millions of people have died on our highways over a span of two decades. I think the toll is unacceptable. If we could just change one thing, I’d tell people to be safer behind the wheel.
