We’re all in a hurry to get to our destination when we’re on the road. Many of us try to make up time by traveling above the speed limit, despite knowing in the back of our minds that it’s not a safe habit. However, speeding is more dangerous as a driving behavior than the average driver may realize. Read on to learn about what safety researchers have learned about speed’s effect on crash intensity, and contact a seasoned Stockton personal injury lawyer if you or someone you love has been injured in a speed-related car accident.
Speeding and drunk driving cause equal number of accidents
Earlier this year, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released the results of a study comparing the fatality rates of drunk driving and speeding. Their research showed that approximately the same number of individuals are killed each year in accidents where law enforcement indicated that speeding was a factor as in accidents where intoxication was listed as a factor. Both speeding and drunk driving are deemed responsible for roughly 30% of fatal accidents each year, and speeding was listed as a factor in approximately 112,580 fatal crashes on US roads between 2005 and 2014. Jonathan Adkins, the director of the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, noted in response to the study that, even though drunk driving kills the same number of people as speeding, “it is not subject to same social stigma as drunk driving and is often a forgotten highway safety problem despite its clear significance.”
Speeding multiplies risk and effects of crashes
Speeding makes crashes both more likely to occur and more likely to result in serious or fatal injury. Speeding shortens the amount of time that a driver has to brake in response to a hazard or stop in traffic in the road ahead both because drivers traveling at faster speeds have less time to react before reaching the hazard, and because drivers need to apply more braking force to bring a faster-moving car to a halt. Even small increases in vehicle speed can multiply the amount of time and distance that a driver needs to bring their car to a stop. Additionally, when a collision does occur, speed amplifies the force of impact of the crash, making it more likely that the crash will cause serious injuries, and that force increases exponentially as the car’s speed increases. When a driver traveling at an excessive speed causes a serious accident, the at-fault driver could face both criminal penalties as well as financial liability through a personal injury lawsuit.
If you’ve been the victim of a motor vehicle crash in California’s central valley, find out if you might have a claim for money damages through a personal injury lawsuit by contacting the seasoned and professional Sutter Creek personal injury lawyers at Redkey & Gordon for a free consultation at 209-267-1685.