Welcome back to the SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts blog series! Each day this week we will feature recent data on some of California's most pressing traffic safety issues. Today, we will be highlighting the facts on speeding-related collisions.
In case you missed them, check out the fact sheets on:
- Alcohol-Impaired Driving
- Aging Road Users
- Bicycle Safety
- Pedestrian Safety
- Motorcycle Safety
SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Speeding-Related Collisions
A speeding-related collision is defined as one in which a driver is racing, driving too fast for the conditions, or driving in excess of the posted speed limit. In the United States, speeding has been involved in nearly one-third of all fatal crashes for more than twenty years and is a leading contributing factor in traffic collisions. Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely around curves or objects, reduces the amount of time a driver has to react to a dangerous situation, and extends safe stopping distances. Nationwide there were 10,111 people killed in speeding-related traffic collisions in 2016, a 4.0 percent increase from 9,723 in 2015, and a 2.1 percent decrease from 10,329 in 2012. Drivers involved in a fatal speeding-related crash were also more likely to engage in other risky behaviors compared with non-speeding drivers—36.8 percent had a BAC of .08 or higher compared with only 15.2 percent of non-speeding drivers; and only 50.5 percent were known to be wearing seatbelts, compared with 78.8 percent of non-speeding drivers. Read the full SafeTREC Speeding-Related Collisions Fact Sheet to explore our findings.
