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Speeding - Facts:

  • In single vehicle crashes, "illegal or unsafe speed" is the contributing factor cited most often for younger drivers.
  • Drivers who exceed the posted speed limit are easy and legal targets for police.  
  • About 37 percent of all drivers' ages 14-19 involved in fatal crashes were in speed-related crashes.
  • Speeding-related crashes resulted in 13,192 fatalities in 2004. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
  • The economic costs of crashes that involved excessive speed were $40.4 billion, representing 18 percent of total crash costs and an average cost of $144 for every person in the United States.
  • Then speed increases from 40 mph to 60 mph, the energy released in a crash more than doubles.
  • Research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that when speed limits were raised by many states in 1996, travel speeds increased and motor vehicle fatalities went up approximately 15 percent on Interstate highways in those states.
  • The relative proportion of speeding-related crashes to all crashes decreases with increasing driver age. In 2002, 39 percent of male drivers 15 to 20 years old who were involved in fatal crashes were speeding at the time of the crash. (NHTSA, 2003)
  • Nationally, total number of crashes and speed-related fatalities are lowest in February gradually building to a high in the month of August.
  • Holidays are typically the highest for speeding-related motor vehicle fatalities. January 1 and July 4th were the two days with the most speeding-related motor vehicle crash fatalities of the entire calendar.  
  • Driver impairment is highly correlated with speeding among drivers involved in fatal crashes.  About 41 percent of drivers who were intoxicated (BAC=0.08+) were also speeding as compared to 14 percent for sober drivers.
  • The geometry of the road plays a vital role in the occurrence of speeding-related crashes. In 2002, about 40 percent of speeding-related fatal crashes occurred while negotiating a curve, while slightly less than 20 percent of non-speeding related fatal crashes occurred under similar roadway geometry.


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