Speed limits are set to ensure that all drivers on Georgia roads drive at a safe rate of speed to stop auto accidents from being caused by drivers who are going too fast to prevent them. Even so, a large portion of the population in Georgia and elsewhere speeds anyway. This is shown in the statistics provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which reports that every year there are nearly 10K deaths caused by speeding drivers.
Why Are Auto Accidents that Involve Speeding So Deadly?
An auto accident that involves speeding can also involve a variety of other factors. To clarify, you don’t hear about ‘speeding accidents’ as often as you hear about side-swipes, rear-end collisions, t-bone collisions, rollover accidents, etc. Rather than defining the whole accident, speeding is a relevant factor in these accidents – a factor that can cause them and also cause them to be far more severe and deadly. Whenever any kind of auto accident occurs at a high rate of speed, it is that much more devastating, even if the driver was not exceeding the speed limit. However, when a driver is exceeding the speed limit, it makes those accidents far more likely to occur and far more likely to cause serious and fatal injuries.
Why Do So Many Drivers Exceed the Posted Speed Limit?
With the obvious benefits of driving at the posted speed limit, such as not causing anyone to die and not getting a traffic citation if you’re caught, it seems like more drivers would avoid speeding. So, why is it that so many accidents are caused by speeding drivers and so many people get traffic citations for speeding, every single day? There are actually a few explanations for this, including traffic congestion and frustration or road rage, deadlines and external expectations, the sense of being anonymous on the road, and a simple unwillingness to consider how their actions could harm themselves and other people.
When questioned about the reasons that they speed, a large portion of drivers who have been caught speeding or who have caused accidents through speeding admit that they did so in an aggressive manner in response to traffic congestion, with their response and behaviors ultimately being defined as road rage. Then, there are those who speed to meet important deadlines and for the purposes of external expectations and pressures. In other words, they are running late for something which requires them to be on time. Common examples include being late for work or being late for school. Yet, even these reasons are still closely linked to the next two factors of being anonymous on the road and not really caring about or believing in the potential negative, or even deadly, effects of their behaviors.
The sense of being anonymous on the road refers to the general understanding that the people who see you speeding are not likely to see you again. There’s a good chance that the drivers around you are not your friends, your coworkers, or your relatives, who might judge your behavior. This is similar to the reasons that people can be quite vicious when making comments on the internet to people that they don’t know. Shielded by the walls of your vehicle and surrounded by people you don’t know makes it very easy to do things that you might not do if you thought it was your mom, your friend, or your boss in the vehicle beside you. You notice that when a speeding driver observes a police vehicle, they slow down, as that sense of anonymity and lack of having to take responsibility for their actions suddenly disappears.
Finally, with all of the other common factors, there is frequently an element of disregarding the safety of themselves and others. Whether the driver is speeding because they are late, because they are frustrated with traffic, or because they think they’ll never see their fellow drivers in what they might consider to be the ‘real world’ of their daily lives, drivers who speed are failing to account for the value of the human lives that are all around them, including themselves.
Contacting a Georgia Auto Accident Attorney After an Auto Accident Caused by Speeding
If you’ve been in an auto accident that was caused by someone else who was speeding or an accident that was made more serious because of this kind of behavior, then you need to contact a compassionate Georgia auto accident attorney at the Law Office of John B. Jackson to get a free consultation, discuss your rights, and explore your options for recovering compensation.
