If You Feel the Need for Speed, Your Time Management Needs Work

The Driving Dynamics Safety Team

Speeding continues to be a serious problem. It is a contributing factor in approximately one third of all fatal collisions. While speeding kills thousands on the highway, side roads have a fatality rate due to speeding that is almost three times that of interstates.

Speed influences crashes in four ways:

Reaction distance to respond when an emergency is detected is increased
Stopping distance goes up exponentially with higher speeds
Crash severity increases
Safety equipment is less able to protect drivers

Speed limits are highly considered measures designed to compel vehicles to travel at a similar, safe speed. When traffic moves at a consistent speed, drivers can observe and react to emergencies with greater success. If vehicles travel at widely different speeds, drivers are less able to evaluate and safely respond to developing situations.

To determine a speed limit for an area, local authorities consider the terrain and conditions that exist on each road. The limits set represent the speed at which an average car can traverse the road safely. As a result, the speed limit will vary for each type of roadway. The importance of observing the posted speed limit is greater than any individual driver’s ability or skill level.

At moderate speeds, small increments in speed have a disproportionate impact on crash severity and probability of death. For example, an increase in speed from 30 to 35 miles per hour makes a frontal crash one third more violent. As speeds increase, driver control decreases and safety equipment including passenger restraint systems, guardrails and barriers are less effective in protecting drivers. Each vehicle and driver has limitations impacted by road surface, weather and individual tire condition. There is a fine line between maintaining and losing control.

Consider driving on an interstate highway, five miles per hour over the posted speed limit. The road is straight, smooth and unobstructed. Your vehicle may feel under control, yet become uncontrollable when reacting to another vehicle or unexpected need to turn quickly, avoiding an object in the road, or responding to changes in road surface. A driver encountering an emergency situation can easily lose control of his or her vehicle, involving others in a dangerous collision. And the risk goes up significantly as speed increases.

Why do people speed? It’s most often the result of inadequate time management. Drivers may feel the need to speed to compensate for having insufficient time to reach their destination. Many people assume that driving faster will get them to their destination much sooner. In fact, the time saved is minimal. On a 20-mile trip, driving 15 miles per hour over the speed limit will only save four minutes in travel time. However, speeding by 15 miles per hour introduces significant danger to everyone on the road—for a gain of fewer than five minutes. If those few minutes will make or break a schedule, the problem is likely in the planning process, not driving style. Also driver impatience and shortage of time can lead to irresponsible behavior, such as distracted or aggressive driving, which only compounds the danger.

Safety is at all times a driver’s first and most urgent responsibility. By choosing to operate a motor vehicle, you accept responsibility for the safety and welfare of yourself, your passengers, and everyone on the road that your decisions will impact. Proper time management is part of having good safe driving habits. If you realistically consider your schedule, you will be better prepared to handle unexpected events on the road.

To help assure a safe and stress-free driving experience:

Plan ahead to allow sufficient travel time
Drive at the posted speed limit
Avoid distractions and aggressive driving

Safety & Risk is presented by Driving Dynamics an accomplished provider of impactful driver safety training and risk management services. Continually building and delivering programs based on sound research, proven learning methodologies and expert instruction, we are dedicated to improving drivers’ abilities to stay safe by leveraging risk management tools, principle-based learning and applied techniques. The One Second Advantage™ safety training principle developed by Driving Dynamics is rooted in research that shows 90 percent of all traffic crashes can be avoided when the driver has just one more second to react and knows what to do with that additional second. Driving Dynamics encourages all drivers to Steer Toward Safety™

Website: http://ift.tt/1E9SEzT; Email: staysafe@drivingdynamics.com; Newsletter: http://ift.tt/1WAXiik

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