- In today’s modern life, citizens demand a high degree of mobility and the possibility to travel fast by air, rail or road has become an integral component of our societies. Speed, by definition, directly affects road transport. It defines the mobility rates and options of persons and goods travelling from one location to another.
- Speed is fundamental to road safety, with many sources of evidence pointing to the profound role of speed in crashes, fatalities and injuries. Speeding not only makes a crash more likely to happen, but also increases the likelihood of severe injuries or death from a crash.
- Speeding encompasses excessive speed, which refers to driving above the speed limit, as well as inappropriate speed, which refers to driving too fast for the conditions, but within the limits.
- Evidence from a variety of sources, e.g. in-depth crash investigations,
conviction data, and self-report surveys, indicates that male drivers and
young drivers are more likely to speed. Findings reveal that male drivers under the age of 30 were over-represented in
speed-related collisions, and this was particularly so for males aged under
the age of 21.
- Speeding has been found to be a major contributory factor in around 10-15% of total crashes.
- 1 km/h increase in average speed equals to 3% increase in road crashes.
- Reducing the average speed by 1 km/h on all roads across Europe could save more than 2000 lives per year.
- A driver driving at high speed has less time to react to an unexpected event than
when driving at moderate speed. Although the reaction time remains the same, the distance covered before a driver reacts is greater at high speed.
- Speeding consists the main cause of 30% of all traffic fatalities.
- A 10% reduction in the average speed results in 38% reduction in fatalities.
- People have a 90% chance of surviving after being hit by a vehicle (e.g. car or truck) going at 30 km/h, but less than 50% at 50 km/h or higher.
- When a vehicle approaches at higher speed, there is less time left for other road users to avoid a collision. At excessive speed, other road users often overestimate the time they have to react.
- Speeding is a key road factor accounting for 19% of the number of serious injuries.
- 1km/h decrease in average speed leads to 4% fewer road serious injuries.
- With lower speeds, road traffic injuries in which pedestrians and cyclists are involved could be reduced by 25% and 17%, respectively.
- There is a clear relationship between speed and risk: as average traffic
speed reduces so does the likelihood of a crash resulting in injury that is
recorded by the police. If a crash does happen, the risk of death and
serious injury is higher at higher speeds.
