Speeding |
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NHTSA considers a crash to be speeding-related if the driver was charged with a speeding-related offense or if an officer indicated that racing, driving too fast for conditions, or exceeding the posted speed limit was a contributing factor in the crash.
Speeding is one of the most prevalent factors contributing to traffic crashes. The economic cost to society of speeding-related crashes is estimated by NHTSA to be $40.4 billion per year. In 2005, speeding was a contributing factor in 30 percent of all fatal crashes, and 13,113 lives were lost in speeding-related crashes. Motor vehicle crashes cost society an estimated $7,300 per second. The total economic cost of crashes was estimated at $230.6 billion in 2000. In 2000, the cost of speeding-related crashes was estimated to be $40.4 billion — $76,865 per minute or $1,281 per second. Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely around curves or objects in the roadway, extends the distance necessary to stop a vehicle, and increases the distance a vehicle travels while the driver reacts to a dangerous situation. Figure 1
For drivers involved in fatal crashes, young males are the most likely to be speeding. The relative proportion of speeding-related crashes to all crashes decreases with increasing driver age. In 2005, 38 percent of the male drivers age 15 to 20 who were involved in fatal crashes were speeding at the time of the crash.
Figure 2
Alcohol and speeding are clearly a deadly combination. Alcohol involvement is prevalent for drivers involved in speeding-related crashes. In 2005, 40 percent of the drivers with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 grams per deciliter (g/dL) or higher involved in fatal crashes were speeding, compared with only In 2005, 25 percent of the speeding drivers under age 21 who were involved in fatal crashes also had a BAC of .08 g/dL or higher. In contrast, only 11 percent of the nonspeeding drivers under age 21 involved in fatal crashes in 2005 had a BAC of .08 g/dL or higher. For drivers between the ages of 21 and 24 who were involved in fatal crashes in 2005, 50 percent of speeding drivers had a BAC of .08 g/dL or higher, compared with only 24 percent of nonspeeding drivers. Figure 3
For both speeding and nonspeeding drivers involved in fatal crashes, the percentage of those who had been drinking, with a BAC of .01 g/dL or higher, at the time the crash occurred was higher at night than during the day. Between midnight and 3 a.m., 75 percent of speeding drivers involved in fatal crashes had been drinking.
Figure 4
Figure 5
In 2005, 34 percent of all motorcyclists involved in fatal crashes were speeding, compared to 22 percent for passenger car drivers, 18 percent for light-truck drivers, and 7 percent for large-truck drivers.
Figure 6
In 2005, only 49 percent of speeding passenger vehicle drivers under age 21 who were involved in fatal crashes were wearing safety belts at the time of the crash. In contrast, 67 percent of nonspeeding drivers in the same age group were restrained. For drivers age 21 and older, the percentage of speeding drivers involved in fatal crashes who were using restraints at the time of the crash was 43 percent, but 72 percent of nonspeeding drivers in fatal crashes were restrained. In 2005, 22 percent of speeding drivers involved in fatal crashes had an invalid license at the time of the crash, compared with 11 percent of nonspeeding drivers. Speeding was a factor in 28 percent of the fatal crashes that occurred on dry roads in 2005 and in 33 percent of those that occurred on wet roads. Speeding was a factor in 51 percent of the fatal crashes that occurred when there was snow or slush on the road and in 58 percent of those that occurred on icy roads.
Speeding was involved in over one-fourth (27%) of the fatal crashes that occurred in construction/maintenance zones in 2005. In 2005, 86 percent of speeding-related fatalities occurred on roads that were not Interstate highways. Figure 7
Table 1 - Speeding-Related Traffic Fatalities by Road Type and Speed Limit, 2005
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