Speedometers across Australia continue to swing past speed limits, making low level speeding a common but dangerous habit.
A survey conducted by Budget Direct found the two main reasons for drivers speeding were not paying attention to their speed and an urgency to get somewhere quickly.
Having your speed creep even 5-10km over the set limit can dramatically alter the chance of accidents as speed increases the overall distance required for reaction and breaking time.
A car travelling 60km an hour will take roughly 45 meters of road length to come to a stop. The same car travelling at 65km an hour will still be moving at 32km/h when reaching the 45-meter mark. A 5km/h difference in speed could mean a far more significant impact, leading to vehicle damage, injury, or death.
In the past we have seen the detrimental impacts of speed increases on the road, even if raised by a small margin.
In 1987 Victoria raised the speed limit on its rural and outer Melbourne freeway network from 100 to 110 km/h. In late 1989 the limit was removed, and the 100 km/h limit was reinstated.
The increase of the speed limit by 10 km/h resulted in an increase of 24.6% in injury accident rate (including fatalities) per kilometre travelled. Once the speed limit was reduced by 10km/h the injury accident rate decreased by 19.3%.
Don’t rush this holiday season.
