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VENTURA — Focused on eliminating driving behaviors that contribute to traffic-related fatalities on our nation’s roads, the Ventura Police Department and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) calls on drivers to recognize speeding as an aggressive driving behavior that endangers all road users and to put an end to it because Speeding Catches up with You.
Speeding is a leading cause of deadly crashes, claiming 11,775 lives in 2023, accounting for nearly one third of all traffic fatalities. While that’s a slight decrease from 2022, speeding remains a major threat to everyone on the road, including passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists. Speed limits are carefully set to reduce crashes and save lives and following them is a shared responsibility that helps protect all road users.
Speeding is dangerous, illegal, and puts everyone at risk. It reduces your ability to react to sudden changes, like a curve in the road, a hazardous object, or another vehicle.
“A speeding-related crash can easily result in devastating injury or a fatality, because of the intense impact on the body, and each 10 mph increases the impact dramatically,” said Corporal David Curtis. “Drivers in neighborhoods and near schools need to be the most aware of their surroundings and slow down.”
Young drivers and motorcyclists are especially at risk. In 2023, speeding was a factor in over a third of fatal crashes involving teenaged males and 51% of crashes involving motorcyclists in their early 20s.
For more information, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/speeding.