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Speeding and driving

Do we really think enough about our speed behind the wheel?

Speeding is one of the ‘Fatal Four’ and is cited as a direct cause for 95% collisions in the UK.

I have identified a number of significant areas of concern:

Why drivers speed

Drivers did not think speeding is a major offence

Drivers did not know the speed limit for the road they were driving on

Drivers did not understand the effect of speed and braking

Drivers were poor at estimating distances and did not know how to calculate this

Drivers thought braking systems on their vehicles would reduce their stopping distance

Drivers did not know larger vehicles (vans, buses, HGVs etc.) took longer to stop than a car

The driving instructors says:

Do not speed because it is illegal

Speeding is dangerous

How to remember the Highway Code stopping distance.

Ignorance of the speed limit is no excuse.

Speeding is a serious criminal offence

This needs to be embedded into driving culture from the very beginning.

Consider the following facts:

83% of drivers admit to driving over 25mph in a 20mph zone.

76% of drivers admit to driving over 35mph in a 30mph zone.

Penalties need to be discussed and explained in detail. From the financial implications, penalty points, driving bans and potential of imprisonment for causing death by careless or dangerous driving, where speed is an aggravating feature, it all needs to be discussed and embedded in the psyche of the driver.

The very serious consequences need to be clearly explained and reinforced throughout the learning, how it can seriously affect students personally and how it can have serious consequences for others involved. This is true whether involved in minor, serious, catastrophic or fatal collisions. The ugly truth needs to be explained and how the results of speeding can catastrophically affect them for the rest of their lives.

43% of drivers are unable to identify the national speed limit sign.

The need to understand the effect of speed and braking

More education about speed and braking distances is a must, and there is one very simple fact can be shared to emphasise this.

Estimating distances and how to calculate them

It is one thing knowing the stopping distances detailed in the Highway Code off by heart, but it is another thing to apply them behind the wheel.

To help judge these distances, thedriver can use the following guidance

Long broken single white line in the centre of the road repeats on average every 5m

The five long single broken white lines start on average at 25m before a ‘Give Way’ junction

Lampposts are generally 25m apart in built up areas and 50m apart on dual carriageways.

This is an especially important fact to get across and to understand. Cutting in front of any of these vehicles is not worth the risk, if the space they are trying to get into is very small!