After studying the dangers of speeding, the National Transportation Safety Board recently issued a report, meant to serve as a reminder to drivers, to slow down. According to the report, as much as a third of all traffic deaths over the past ten years involved drivers exceeding the speed limit either by driving faster than the posted limit or by driving faster than the weather or road conditions warranted. The biggest issue with speeding is that the time the driver has to react to a surprise lengthens the distance needed to stop, thereby increasing the chance of a collision.
According to USA Today, while drunk driving is responsible for about 10,000 fatal crashes per year, speeding is responsible for nearly the same amount of fatalities in an auto accident. Robert Sumwalt, NTSB acting chairman, says that a person is much more likely to be injured, those injuries are much more likely to be severe, and drivers and passengers are much more likely to die in a crash which involves excessive speed.
Between the years of 2005 and 2014, 112,580 people died in speed-related crashes. While the fatalities were primarily the speeding drivers themselves, those speed-related fatalities also included passengers in the car that was speeding, occupants of other vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists. Although speed-related crashes declined somewhat from year to year between 2005 and 2014, 2015 and 2016 saw upticks in the number of speed-related fatalities.
Further Reading: Life Saving Auto Safety Tech Decreases Accidents 14%
Fourteen states currently have speed cameras which take photos of speeding cars, and in these states the speed-related crashes, serious injuries and fatalities were reduced. Unfortunately, driving fast is not particularly socially unacceptable in the same way driving while drunk, or driving without a seat belt are. There are no major campaigns to increase public awareness about exceeding the speed limit, at least at the national level.
Both the U.K and Australia have implemented what is known as point-to-point speed enforcement. This means a driver can be ticketed for getting from point A to point B faster than they would if they had been obeying the posted speed limit. Police in the U.S. use radar or laser-based detectors to spot speeders or may “pace” a car by following it for a specific distance to confirm the car is exceeding the posted speed limit. If you typically drive faster than the posted speed limit—or drive too fast for road or weather conditions, consider the following speeding statistics:
In the end, drivers need to just slow down and protect not only their own lives, but the lives of other drivers and passengers on the roadways.
If you or someone you love has been injured in a car accident in Northern Colorado, it is important to evaluate all of your legal options. From the moment you are injured, our attorneys will go to work for you. This enables us to build the best case for our clients – one that will award them maximum compensation. At Hull & Zimmerman, P.C., our committed car accident lawyers are dedicated to the belief that everyone deserves justice. Contact us at (303) 423-1770 or (866) 385-3505.
Our car accident lawyers have extensive experience representing injured accident victims in Broomfield, Arvada, Superior, Lafayette, Louisville, Erie, Brighton, Commerce City, Northglenn, Westminster, Thornton, Longmont, and throughout Colorado.
At Hull & Zimmerman, P.C., we are honored to help accident victims in their time of need, and take our responsibility as personal injury lawyers incredibly seriously. We know how important it is for victims to secure the full and fair compensation they need following a serious accident, and that is why we take a hands-on, personalized approach to every case we handle.
awarded to a woman who was a victim of a car crash. The woman was driving the highway when the other driver approaching from the opposite direction lost control of his vehicle, crossed the center line and hit her head on. She suffered multiple broken bones, including her hip, pelvis, leg, and right arm. She missed several years of work as a result of her injuries. Read More
awarded to a woman who was the victim of a t-bone car crash. The client suffered multiple injuries. The most significant of which was a head injury. While she was ultimately able to return to work on a part-time basis, Plaintiff was never able to return to work on a full-time basis. Read More
settlement awarded to a lady who suffered a head injury. She slipped and fell in a slanted parking lot at her place of employment. Evidence demonstrated that the owner of the building had constructed a fence shading the parking lot such that ice was allowed to continuously accumulate during the winter months. Multiple people had fallen on the ice prior to the client’s fall. As a result of her injuries, Plaintiff was forced to take early retirement. Read More
awarded to a man whose vehicle was hit from behind by a semi. The injured party suffered back pain and rotator cuff tears in each shoulder and was forced to retire from his job doing road repair four years earlier. Read More
settlement (policy limits) awarded to a young man who lost his eye when another child shot an arrow into the air. Read More
settlement obtained for a man who was injured in a rear end automobile accident. He suffered a herniated disc in his low back which was not well resolved by surgery forcing him to leave his employment as an apartment maintenance manager. Read More
awarded to a gentleman in association with a workman’s compensation case. He initially sustained a head injury at work when attacked by a patient. Several years later, his condition worsened resulting in his inability to return to work in his usual job. Read More
settlement achieved in a legal malpractice case. The client initially suffered a herniated disc in her neck in association with an automobile accident. The attorney failed to file the lawsuit in a timely manner and the Plaintiff was initially denied her ability to achieve any monies from the original lawsuit. Read More
settlement awarded to a man who was a victim of an automobile accident. Plaintiff was a passenger who was rear-ended by another driver. Following the accident, he suffered a long term back injury. Read More
settlement awarded to a lady who aggravated a pre-existing back condition when she slipped and fell at the entrance to a casino. Read More
awarded to a woman who suffered a rotator cuff tear from an automobile accident. Read More