American drivers seem to have a nonchalant attitude toward speeding. That’s according to a new survey from AAA.
Regional spokesman Morgan Dean says that's a concerning attitude that ignores statistics showing speed kills.
“About one-third of all traffic crash fatalities are from crashes involving a speeding driver,” he says. “The faster a vehicle is going the harder it is to get that vehicle down to a survivable speed.”
Dean says many of those asked say going 10 mph over the posted limit is fine, and 30% believe no one is obeying the speed limit.
Respondents listed getting there faster and not wanting to delay other drivers as the top reasons for speeding.
“The other thing we hear from a lot of drivers is that ‘Oh, I was just following along with the rest of traffic,’ ” he says. “I think most of us can agree on, anecdotally, when we’re out on interstates, drivers are going much faster than the speed limit out there, and if we all start trying to match some of the other drivers out there, we are making the problem much, much worse.”
Dean says that attitude was obvious during the COVID pandemic.
“There were fewer cars on the roadway. There was much more open space out there for drivers,” he says. “But for some drivers, they saw it as someone waving the green flag and that they were on a race track, and they engaged in dangerous behavior — speeding, not wearing a seat belt, driving impaired, and driving aggressively.”
Dean says a lot of people still drive that way.
When motorists were asked what to do about it, 70% said they favored speed cameras in some places, like school or work zones; and 90% said speed humps were effective, though fewer than half supported installing them in their own neighborhoods.
Dean says the biggest reason respondents gave for slowing down was fear of getting a ticket.
“The flip side of that is we can’t have an officer on every single corner of every single mile of every roadway,” he concludes
He says drivers say they like in-car systems warning drivers they're speeding, but are opposed, generally, to governors, or any other device that limits a vehicle’s speed.
Read more:
