Drivers exceeding the speed limit are responsible for around a third of all traffic deaths each year, and there’s no end in sight for this trend.
Driving over the speed limit has been a documented cause of serious or fatal automobile accidents for many years now. In the past two decades, speeding has been a factor in approximately one-third (33%) of all motor vehicle fatalities in the country.
While new studies are being considered and released on trending crash causes, like texting while driving or the malfunction of automated technology, speeding is a long-recognized killer.
Speeding continues to kill a great many motor vehicle accident victims in this country. In a fatal accident, the likelihood of the driver exceeding the speed limit and causing the crash is about the same as if he was driving drunk.
Drivers must know that they are risking their own lives, as well as their passengers and the occupants of other vehicles (along with pedestrians and motorcyclists) when they choose to ignore the speed limit and drive fast. The general public is well aware that speeding can result in a deadly crash.
Nevertheless, this year, there will be preventable tragedies where victims of speeding drivers in Indiana and Illinois will be killed because a driver chose to speed.
Speeding on NTSB Most Wanted List
Last week, we discussed the just-released report from the National Transportation Safety Board: its 2019 – 2020 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements. Speeding made the federal “top ten” dangers facing Americans on the road today.
From the NTSB’s list comes the push to “Implement a Comprehensive Strategy to Reduce Speeding-Related Crashes.” The federal government wants major efforts undertaken by authorities within the next two years to try and reduce the speeding accident death toll.
According to the NTSB findings, speeding deaths are on the upswing: after reaching a low in 2014, speeding-related traffic fatalities increased in 2015 and again, with even more speeding fatalities, in 2016.
Why is Speeding Likely to Kill Someone in a Motor Vehicle Accident?
There are reasons that certain sections of streets, roads, highways, and interstates are posted with designated speed limits. Speed limits are not arbitrary.
Experts have determined the maximum speed that a motor vehicle can be safely driven on that roadway. Of course, the speed limits will change along with the circumstances: a curve may mean a reduced speed limit, while a remote rural route may allow for a higher legal speed.
Driver who speed are committing a crime: they are breaking state and local laws by doing so. Still, anyone driving the roads of Indiana and Illinois knows all too well that drivers ignore many speed limit signs.
The entire flow of traffic may be exceeding the speed limit, forcing many drivers to speed just to keep up with the surrounding vehicles. It’s almost impossible not to speed on some of local interstates and urban highways.
Risks of Speeding
This does not lessen the risks of a driver speeding and causing a fatal accident. When someone speeds, there are the following risks:
- Higher risk of the driver losing control of the vehicle;
- Lower ability of safety belts and air bags to protect occupants in a crash;
- Greater crash impact because driver will have less distance within which to stop after realizing a danger or imminent crash; and
- Advanced likelihood of death or severe bodily injuries because higher speeds mean increased force in the impact.
Why Is Speeding Still a Common Cause of Car Crash Fatalities?
One reason that speeding continues to be a major cause of motor vehicle accident deaths may not be due to a failure to find ways to stop drivers from exceeding the speed limit. How to solve the speeding problem is not a mystery.
- First, there are ways to catch drivers who are speeding, like law enforcement automated technology, perhaps more commonly recognized by locals as “speed traps” involving radar, speed cameras, or red light cameras. For instance, Chicago has 161 speed cameras as well as 149 red light cameras.
- There are also standard offerings in most car makes and models on the roads today that help drivers keep within the speed limit (e.g., cruise control). Since 2015, Ford has offered an automated option where the vehicle sensors read the posted street signs and lower the car’s rate of speed accordingly.
- Finally, after decades of public awareness campaigns, everyone (drivers and passengers alike) understands that it is dangerous to drive over the established speed limit.
Unfortunately, social norms do not find speeding to be offensive or taboo, as compared to drivers who get behind the wheel while intoxicated or under the influence of drugs.
Read “Speeding To Blame For Nearly 1 in 3 Traffic Deaths, Is ‘Culturally Acceptable’” written by Tanya Mohn and published in Forbes Magazine on January 17, 2019.
Speeding is Acceptable: Rising Fatal Crash Rates Likely to Continue
As the NTSB points out, the issue today is not discovering the solution to the problem. The issue today is that the solutions are “underused” and as a result, more and more drivers are opting to drive over the speed limit:
[E]xceeding the posted speed limit has become an accepted way of driving on our nation’s roadways.
Given the current statistical revelation that the number of speeding fatalities has been rising since 2015, it is likely that Indiana and Illinois will suffer an unacceptable number of entirely preventable deaths due to drivers choosing to exceed the speed limit.
The driver and his or her passengers, as well as the occupants of the other vehicle(s) involved in the crash, will face a high risk of severe and permanent harm or death due to the driver’s decision to speed.
Children and adult pedestrians are particularly vulnerable here. Those riding bicycles and motorcyclists are also at a great risk of death in a speed-related crash.
In our next post, we will continue to discuss the rising risk of fatal motor vehicle accidents caused by speeding here in Indiana and Illinois. Please be careful out there!
