AAA Mid-Atlantic
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| Not-for-profit | |
| Industry | Automotive services, insurance |
| Founded | March 4, 1902 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Headquarters | 1000 AAA Drive Heathrow, Florida, United States |
| Products | Maps, Travel guides, Car batteries |
| Services | Roadside assistance, Auto repair, Travelling, Motoring advice, Traffic safety, Others |
| Website | www.aaa.com |
The American Automobile Association (AAA – pronounced "Triple A") is a federation of motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a non-profit member service organization; with 55.6 million members in the United States and Canada. AAA provides services to its members, including roadside assistance and others. Its national headquarters are in Heathrow, Florida.
The American Automobile Association (the "AAA" or "Triple-A") was founded on March 4, 1902, in Chicago, Illinois, when in response to a lack of roads and highways suitable for automobiles, nine motor clubs with a total of 1,500 members banded together to form the Triple-A. Those individual motor clubs included the Chicago Automobile Club, Automobile Club of America, Automobile Club of New Jersey, and others. The Automobile Club of Buffalo joined in 1903.
In 1904, the AAA merged with the very first American automobile organization, the American Motor League under the direction of the first chairman, Augustus Post.
The first AAA road maps were published in 1905. AAA began printing hotel guides in 1917. The Triple-A began its School Safety Patrol Program in 1920, the first of the association's driver safety programs, which provided local schools with materials, including badges and ID cards to train and organize students into a patrol force. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which conducts studies on motorist safety, was established as a separate entity in 1947.
AAA created an organization called the Racing Board, and later known as the Contest Board, in 1902 to officiate the Vanderbilt Cup international automobile race in Long Island, New York. The Racing Board sanctioned the Indianapolis 500 and awarded national racing championships in 1905, 1916, 1920–1941, and 1946–1955. After the 1955 Le Mans disaster, AAA decided that auto racing distracted from its primary goals, and the United States Automobile Club was formed to take over the race sanctioning/officiating. In 2005, AAA re-entered racing as a sponsor of ISC-owned tracks. In 2006, AAA's foray into racing expanded when it made a three-year commitment to sponsor Roush Racing's number 6 car on the NASCAR Nextel Circuit.
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Wikipedia