Experienced, Compassionate and Effective Advocacy

The effects of speeding in Virginia

On Behalf of | Jul 30, 2020 | Personal Injury

There was a crash on Virginia’s roads every 4.1 minutes on average in 2019. A large proportion of the 128,172 crashes throughout the state last year were caused by drivers going too fast.

Speeding drivers were responsible for 19.3% of all Virginia traffic accidents, 42.2% of all traffic deaths and 20.2% of all the personal injuries suffered in vehicle accidents.

Yet, speeding seems to be accepted by many drivers who think that speed limits are a nuisance, something that they can choose to ignore. For some reason, it seems more acceptable to break the speed limit than to drink alcohol and drive. Yet drivers who had been drinking alcohol were responsible for far fewer collisions than those who were speeding. Alcohol caused only 5.5% of all accidents, 31.9% of deaths and 6.7% of injuries.

Even distracted drivers, who have been the subject of many recent campaigns, did not cause as much harm as people going too fast. Distracted drivers caused 18.1% of crashes, 14.5% of deaths and 20.2% of injuries.

Unsurprisingly, men were almost twice as likely to cause a crash by speeding than women, with 62.6% of all speed crashes caused by men.

The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) highlights why speeding is so dangerous.

  • It makes it harder to steer around objects or bends.
  • It makes it harder for other people to judge your distance.
  • It increases braking distance.

Slowing down is an easy way to reduce accidents. Slowing down will also reduce the severity of an accident that does happen.

Categories