The speed limit does save lives
FACT – the main cause of road crashes is the combination of driving too fast with some form of human error. Speed kills!
Resist the temptation
Sometimes a clear road or wanting to impress your mates can make it really tempting for you to speed. What you might think is harmless fun can end in tragedy. You may lose your licence, your job, your mates, and even yours or somebody else’s life for that moment of temptation.
Speeding is the major cause of road crashes. The speed limit is there for a reason.
Speed limits are a maximum speed, not a target
Sometimes even driving at the speed limit will be too fast. Weather conditions such as fog and rain can have a major effect on both your visibility, as well as the contact of your car tyres on the road.
Speed kills
The faster you drive, the greater your stopping distance, and the worse the injuries will be in the event of a crash. Government research shows:
- About 1 in 3 deaths on the road are speed related.
- 7 out of 10 drivers regularly break the speed limit.
- On urban roads, 76 per cent of cars will exceed the speed limit if the road is clear.
- Two-thirds of all crashes in which people are killed or injured happen on roads with a speed limit of 30 mph or less.
- In accidents where a pedestrian is hit, the likelihood of death occurring is about four times more at 40 mph than at 30 mph.
- Fatal road accidents occur four times more on rural roads than they do on urban roads.