There is a clear link between speed and automobile accidents. This is the reason that breaking the speed limit is illegal. It’s not just a way to generate revenue through tickets, but a way to try to make the roads safer by keeping speeds down.
What studies have found is that increases in speed make it more likely that a driver will be involved in an accident and more likely that that driver will suffer severe injuries. In fact, it’s also more likely that that person would pass away in the incident. And it doesn’t take nearly as much of a change in speed as you might assume to cause all of these issues.
A 1% increase in speed has telling results
To study this, researchers looked at a simple 1% increase in the speed of a vehicle. When the driver went 1% faster, here’s what the study found:
- The odds of a fatal accident go up by 4%.
- The odds of serious injuries occurring go up by 3%.
- The odds of an accident happening in the first place go up by 2%.
In fact, this is one of the reasons that rural roads are often thought of as being more dangerous than city streets. It is true that city streets are often more complicated and there is far more traffic. This makes them feel confusing, but traffic is moving at such a low speed that it actually leads to fewer fatal accidents. Rural roads are far more simplistic, but deaths happen much more often on the road.
If you’ve been injured in an accident caused by a speeding driver, then you need to know about your legal options to seek financial compensation for medical bills and other costs.
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