During Illinois Speed Awareness Day on July 26, the Naperville Police Department is taking a proactive approach to promote safety for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists through both education and enforcement.
In Illinois during 2015, speed was the reason for 34.2 percent of all fatal crashes. That’s 369 deaths for the year, or one life every 23.7 hours. These lives can easily be saved by being aware of vehicle speed and understanding how speeding impacts a crash.
Speeding can have the following consequences:
• When a pedestrian is hit by a car at 20 MPH there is a ten percent likelihood of being killed. At a speed of 30 MPH the percentage increases to a 50 percent likelihood of being killed.
• The higher the speed at impact, the more severe the injuries sustained.
• 37 percent of injury crashes reported in 2015 were speed-related.
• When speeding there is a greater chance that other road users will misjudge how fast a driver is traveling.
• Speeding extends the distance required to stop a vehicle in emergency situations.
• Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to navigate safely around curves or objects in the roadway.
A one percent decrease in travel speed reduces the risk of injuries by about two percent, a serious crash by three percent and a fatal crash by four percent. Everyone can do their part by taking a proactive approach to prevent fatalities and reduce injuries on the roadways by being aware of their speed and obeying the speed limit signs all the time.
For more information about Illinois Speed Awareness Day, visit www.illinoisspeedawarenessday.org.
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