Is compromising your safety and the safety of others worth the minutes you’ll save by speeding to arrive at your destination?  Exceeding the posted speed limit (or driving too fast for conditions) is a factor in almost one-third of all fatal crashes.  Speeding-related fatalities are not always related to interstate travel.  Only 14 per cent of speeding-related fatalities occur on interstate highways.  While speeding, the driver is unable to have enough response time to avoid a crash, has an increased likelihood of crashing, and an increased severity of the crash once it occurs.  Other distractions while driving that play a roll in accidents are:

• Talking on cell phone

• Reading

• Texting

• Emotional agitation

• Alcohol, Drugs

Neighborhood speeding is another problem that often has to be controlled by interested citizens who get their local law enforcement agencies to establish stricter speed enforcement to protect children, pedestrians, bicyclers and other motorists.  Speed bumps have been found to be a good way to slow drivers down in neighborhoods, as well as a friendly cop parked close by with his radar gun!

Speed Awareness Radar Trailers are another way to alert drivers if they are going too fast, as their speed is displayed on a board as they pass by.  Another theory is that driving too slowly on higher speed limit highways can be as dangerous as driving too fast.  We all need to be aware and alert of what is going around us at all times.

You have probably been traveling down the road, to be passed by someone in a great hurry to get wherever he’s going, darting in and out of traffic, but when you arrive in the next town, there he is, sitting at the first traffic light!  Most of the time, if we just observe the speed limit, we will get there safely.  What was that story about the tortoise and hare?  Slow down, save a life!

Sources:
National Highway Transportation Safety Administration
State Farm Insurance