Most people consider themselves to be law-abiding citizens despite the fact that they likely break a number of laws every day. In many cases, law breaking by otherwise upright citizens is the result of not understanding local, state and federal legal codes.
However, quite a few people knowingly violate laws, in part because they don’t think some of them are important. Exceeding the posted speed limit for a particular section of road is one of the most common intentional criminal violations that occurs across the United States.
Every day, millions of Americans knowingly violate the speed limits put in place for the safety of everyone on the road. Most people speed because they want to get where they’re going quickly. What they don’t realize is the statistical correlation between speeding and fatal car crashes.
Excessive speed can reduce someone’s ability to maintain control over a vehicle or stop when necessary. While people may feel comfortable traveling at high speeds, the danger in doing so isn’t always obvious until they need to maneuver or stop quickly.
For decades, speeding has been a causative factor in roughly a third of all fatal traffic collisions in the United States. In 2018, the most recent year with analyzed statistics available, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that the number of fatal crashes caused by speeding was almost 9,400 out of a total of 36,560 traffic deaths, which marks a decrease from previous years.
However, that still means that thousands of people lose their lives because of someone else driving too fast. Anyone hurt or coping with the death of a loved one caused by a speeding-related crash may have the right to hold the driver who caused the crash legally accountable.
