Most people are aware of global advertising campaigns that ‘Speed Kills’, but why is the problem continuing and so wide spread?
Choosing to speed when driving is a broad problem. Speeding drivers come in all shapes and sizes, and cross all racial, gender, economic and social definitions.
Research has shown that you are more likely to kill a pedestrian when driving at 40 miles per hour rather than 30 miles per hour, proving that the risks in pushing your speedometer up far outweigh the gains.
Reasons for speeding
Drivers choose to speed for various reasons – they think they are beyond the law, they are in a hurry, they don’t believe they are driving dangerously. Some drivers feel pressured by others that influence their driving decisions and encourage them to go faster.
Speeding statistics
Motor vehicle crashes have a huge economic, psychological and societal burden on citizens – in the U.S the cost of speed-related crashes is estimated to be around $210 billion.
The factors contributing to this figure include medical and legal costs, damage to property, emergency services costs, congestion costs (travel delays, excess fuel consumption) and workplace productivity losses.
As well as this, over 41 million people annually receive speeding tickets. Road policing must remain a top priority as the number of people killed or injured through motor vehicle accidents far exceeds the number of people killed through any other form of crime.
However, no amount of money can replace a lost life and sadly one in three deaths from speed-related crashes could have been avoided by drivers going slower.
The risks of speeding
Increasing your speed by 1 percent can increase your chance of having a crash by as much as 4 percent.
Hey, maybe Math was not my cup of tea, but if I drive at 60 instead of 50 (20% faster), my chances of having a crash increase by what? 80%!? That’s almost double…
At high speeds, drivers have less time to identify and react to what is happening around them and it takes longer for the vehicle to stop.
If you choose to drive faster than posted speed limits, the impact of any resulting accidents are extreme. More kinetic energy is released when there is a collision with another vehicle, object or road user, resulting in property damage, fatalities or serious injuries to the human body. This video shows the effects of speeding when driving.
Warning – This video contains unpleasant scenes, so if you’re squeamish You better skip it..
How to reduce speed-related accidents
Road design and engineering affects speed, so it is important that road design – in conjunction with posted speed limits – give drivers the right perceptions of safe speeds.
Driver education is important in trying to change attitudes towards speeding, so drivers are more aware that if they drive too fast it will significantly increase their chance of an accident.
Driver training must be reinforced after licensing, so drivers can be shown the risks of exceeding speed limits.
Speed limits have a purpose
At all times, drive within the proposed speed limits. Don’t allow others to influence your driving decisions or encourage you to increase your speed. Allow enough time for your journey so you arrive relaxed, if you can, leave earlier than risk speeding.
It is not worth the consequences for the sake of arriving at your destination a few minutes earlier.
(Statistics Source: NHTSA)
