New Report: No Progress Reducing Speeding-Related Traffic Deaths

• January 17th, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) highlights excessive vehicle speed as a persistent factor in nearly one-third of all motor vehicle-related fatalities. Despite this, speeding is not given enough attention as a traffic safety issue and is widely deemed culturally acceptable by the motoring public.

“Speeding Away from Zero: Rethinking a Forgotten Traffic Safety Challenge” takes a fresh look at this challenging topic, outlining the latest available data and research, federal and state policies, existing programs to reduce speeding-related crashes, and promising future approaches.

GHSA Executive Director Jonathan Adkins points out, “If we want to get to zero deaths on our roads, we need to address speeding on a much deeper and more comprehensive level than we have been. This clear and present danger on our roadways makes it imperative to devote additional resources toward getting drivers to slow down in order to save lives.”

Speeding by motorists particularly threatens the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists by not only increasing the chances of a crash, but also increasing the risk of serious injury or death when crashes occur. On the other hand, even small decreases in travel speed can reduce crash and injury severity and save lives.

While some urban areas have had success in reducing vehicle speeds (for example, by lowering the speed limits in New York City and Boston), a greater proportion of speeding-related fatalities actually occur on rural roadways, claiming more than 5,000 lives in 2016 alone. Vision Zero efforts have been at the forefront of steps to curb speeding in cities, and GHSA hopes to see this concept and its principles spread to more suburban and rural jurisdictions across the country.

The GHSA report outlines of number of additional recommendations to reduce speeding on our roadways. Suggestions consist of federal legislative and programmatic prioritization, more aggressive and sustained law enforcement efforts (including automated speed enforcement), and engineering the built environment for safer speeds through roundabouts and other traffic calming elements. GHSA’s State Highway Safety Office members are uniquely positioned within state government to launch new speeding reduction programs, spearhead public education and enforcement efforts, and coordinate broad stakeholder alliances.

To confront the issue of speeding directly, GHSA, in partnership with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), is convening a speeding forum this April, bringing together a wide range of stakeholders to develop the architecture of a new, integrated speed management program that state highway safety agencies and their many partners can implement in tandem to convince motorists, improve roadways, and change culture to prioritize safety over speed.

Released on January 15, 2019

Contact: Madison Forker, 202-580-7930