Signup For UPDATES
go
Speed Safety
10,395 lives were lost in speeding-related crashes in 2010.

Dry roads: Speeding was a factor in 20 percent of fatal crashes.

Wet Roads: Speeding was a factor in 24 percent of fatal crashes.

Snow: Speeding was a factor in 34 percent of fatal crashes.
 
Ice: Speed was a factor in 41 percent of fatal crashes.
 
Construction Zones: Speeding was a factor in 34 percent of fatal crashes.
 
Speeding is a factor in nearly one-third of all fatal crashes.  
 
Source: NHTSA, 2010. 
Speed Cameras Make Roads Safer
Speed safety cameras are a proven method of deterring speeding to make roads safer.

  • In Cedar Rapids, Iowaspeed cameras led to a 54% reduction in speeding just four months after cameras were installed.
  • Baker, Louisiana saw a 75% reduction in speed-related crashes after installing speed safety cameras.2
  • After speed cameras were installed, a City of Mesa, Arizona transportation study showed a reduction in the 85th percentile speed for vehicles from 46.6 mph to 36.8 mph, a 21% decrease.
 
Sources: Eastern Iowa Government, 2010, Zachary Plainsman News, December 2010, City of Mesa, 2012. 
Who speeds?
Speeding on Freeways

·        

52% have driven 15 mph over the speed limit on a freeway in the past month; 17% do this regularly.
41% say drivers speeding on freeways are a very serious threat to personal safety.
 
41% believe that most people consider it acceptable to drive 15 mph over the speed limit on freeways.
Only 24% consider it acceptable. 
 

Speeding on Residential Streets

 
43% have driven 10 mph over the speed limit and 26% have driven 15 mph over the speed limit on a residential street in the past month.
However, 51% say drivers speeding on residential streets are a very serious threat to personal safety.
 
86% believe their neighbors consider it unacceptable to speed on a residential street.

94% consider it unacceptable to speed on a residential street.  
 
Source: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2011. 

·    


 

· 


 

·     


Speeding Kills
Speeding takes 866 lives each month. 
 
Speeding takes  200 lives each week. 
 
Speeding takes 28 lives each day.
 
Speeding takes 1.2 lives each hour.
 
Source: NHTSA, 2010.
 
Speed Safety Cameras in Scottsdale
The City of Scottsdale, Arizona launched the nation’s first speed safety camera program in 2006. The nine-month pilot program on Loop 101 was used to test the effects of a speed enforcement program on a stretch of the state’s highways. The results showed:
 
  • 86% reduction in drivers traveling 11 mph or more above the posted speed limit
  • 7 mph reduction (from 70 mph to 63 mph) in average speed on the photo-enforced highway
  • Drivers were 95% less likely to exceed 75 mph
 
This program also slowed speeds in the surrounding area. Researchers found speed violations fell on the same freeway up to 25 miles from the enforcement area.
 
Source: “Special Issue: Speed,” Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 2008.