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.

Speed-Related Fatalities Edging Up

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%

Speed Cameras Help, But Few States Use Them

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.

Point-to-Point Speed Enforcement in U.K. and Australia

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:

• More than 100,000 drivers receive speeding tickets every single day in the United States, and drivers who routinely exceed the speed limit have about a one in six chance at getting pulled over for speeding.
• The cost of a speeding ticket depends on where you live, although the national average is about $135. The cost of the ticket may not be the highest cost, however; insurance rates can increase as much as 18 percent following your first speeding ticket and a whopping 34 percent after your second speeding ticket.
• The most expensive speeding ticket ever issued was issued to a Swedish driver who was driving his Ferrari through a small village at 85 mph—and received a $290,000 fine.
• Only about half of all drivers go to court to fight their speeding ticket, and, of that 50 percent, about 39 percent are successful in getting the fine reduced, or the ticket thrown out of court altogether.
• The Subaru WRX is the most ticketed vehicle, and the Dodge Viper is the least ticketed vehicle. Men are more likely to be pulled over for speeding than women, but, contrary to popular belief, men are also better at talking their way out of a speeding ticket.   
• Young men are most likely to be exceeding the speed limit in an accident which results in a fatality, while those between the ages of 55 and 64 are least likely to be involved in a fatal speed-related accident.
• The state of Texas has speed limits as high as 85 mph, while Idaho, Utah and Wyoming have speed limits as high as 80 mph. Not surprisingly, Texas has the most speed-related fatalities in the nation.
• The state of Virginia has the highest fines for speeders—as much as $3,000.

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.

Contact Our Northern Colorado Car Accident Attorneys

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.