You’re driving on the expressway and realize you’re driving 68 mph in a 55 mph zone. What’s the harm, right?
Well, there could be plenty of harm.
Surveys find that although people name speeding as a threat to their safety when other drivers around them are speeding, the majority say they also speed when driving. There are many reasons why people speed. According to Focus on Safety: A Practical Guide to Automated Traffic Enforcement, drivers speed because:
- They’re in a hurry.
- They’re inattentive to their driving.
- They don’t take traffic laws seriously.
- They don’t view their driving behavior as dangerous.
- They don’t expect to get caught.
- Some or all of the above.
Speeding results in:
- Lives lost – over 13,000 each year.
- Work zone crashes and fatalities – speed was a factor in 27 percent of fatal crashes in construction and maintenance zones in 2005.
- Unsafe school zones – compliance with lower speed limits is poor.
- Economic costs -- speed-related crashes cost society over $40 billion annually, according to NHTSA. Every minute "gained" by speeding to a destination costs U.S. society over $76,000.
Young males are the most likely to be involved in speeding-related crashes. According to 2007 NHTSA data, 39 percent of male drivers age 15-20 who were involved in fatal crashes were speeding at the time of the crash.
Plus, studies show that someone who gets hit by a car has a better chance of survival if the car was going 30 mph than at 40 mph.
So ease up off that accelerator.