Submitted by Cedric Hughes on Wed, 11/02/2005 - 08:55
Speeding is a surprisingly complex topic. And, perhaps contrary to popular belief, most motor vehicle accidents are not the result of speeding. However, speeding remains a major cause of accidents, and particularly the serious and fatal ones.
Areas of study and debate related to speeding, include the:
- definition of “speeding”
- extent of the problem
- characteristics of drivers who speed
- environmental, behavioral and vehicle-related factors that affect speeding
- statistical trends
- extent to which car advertising contributes to the problem
Some of the most current statistics on speeding-related fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes are in a U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Technical Report dated June 2005. It states that “in 2002, 13,713 fatalities—about a third of all fatalities that occurred in motor vehicle traffic crashes [in the United States] were related to speeding, in that at least one of the drivers involved in the crash was speeding.”
For Canada, The 2002 Annual Report on Road Safety Vision 2010, released in April 2004 cited 17%, (slightly less than one fifth) as the percentage of all fatalities that occurred in motor vehicle traffic crashes that were speeding-related.
If speeding is defined more broadly than just breaking the speed limit, then the accidents that result from speeding are much greater in number. For example, most aggressive driving can be seen as “speeding”. The aggressive driver is usually driving too fast for the road and traffic conditions.
Anyone driving in BC will see, before too long, acts of aggressive driving. Erratic lane changes, running stale yellow lights (or worse – red lights), failure to yield, and following too closely – these may top list, but this is just the start of a large number of driving failures that are causing untold grief and misery. All of this, to a greater or lesser extent, involves speeding. And, short of a medical emergency, there is probably no good reason to take the high risk of pushing through traffic.
ICBC has published the following recommendations to assist drivers to avoid the temptation to speed or drive aggressively (see: www.insurance-canada.ca/consinfoauto/ICBC-driving-campaign-507.php) :
- “Be realistic about your travel time. Factor in possible delays due to traffic, construction, and weather.
- If you’re going to be later than you had hoped, take a deep breath and accept the delay. Better to arrive late than not at all.
- Set an example to other drivers and to your children; practice courtesy.
- Give other drivers the benefit of the doubt. They may be from out of town, in a hurry, or distracted.
- Slow down and keep your distance.”
The Speed and Intersection Safety Management Task Force of the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators [CCMTA] is managing initiatives to achieve the sub-target of a 20% decrease by 2008–2010 in the number of road users fatally or seriously injured in crashes involving these factors. For the PDF version of the complete 2002 Annual Report go to www.ccmta.ca/english/standingcommittees/standingcommittees-roadsafety-rsv2010.html and click on the link for further information.
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