Is it worth taking large risks for the small benefit of possibly reaching your destination sooner? Rush hour doesn’t have to be. Slow down and live. When it comes to speeding and your own personal safety, the laws of physics are far more important than the laws of government.
The faster you go:
- The farther you travel after detecting the need to stop or slow. By then it may be too late to avoid a collision.
- The longer your stopping distance. If a car stops suddenly in front of you, if a pedestrian should step in front of you, if a deer darts out of the woods onto the highway, the faster you’re going, the less chance you have of stopping in time.
- The less time you give yourself to react to any road hazard just out of sight around the next bend or over the hill.
- The more severe your injuries in a collision. A frontal impact at 35 mph, for example, is 33% more violent that a collision at 30 mph, even though you’ve only increased your speed by 16.6%. The energy released in a collision at 60 mph is 200% greater than 40 mph, even though you’ve increased your speed by only 50%.
- The harder it is to take evasive action, and the more likely the car will turn over if you do.
- The less likely your vehicle’s design and restraint systems will be able to protect you.
- The more likely you’ll die in any collision. Speeding is involved in one-third of all fatal accidents.
Defensive Driver
A defensive driver is one who commits no driving errors himself; who makes allowances to compensate for unusual weather, road, and traffic conditions; who makes allowances for the lack of skill or improper driving of others; who is not tricked into an accident by the unsafe action of another driver or pedestrian. By being alert to accident producing situations, he/she recognizes the need for preventive action in advance and then takes the necessary precautions to prevent the occurrence. As a defensive driver, he/she knows when it is necessary to slow down, stop or yield his right of way to avoid involvement.
