SmartDrive Systems, a San Diego-based provider of video safety and transportation intelligence, published new insights on the effects of speeding on the job April 30 as part of its latest SmartIQ Speeding Drivers Snapshot for Truckers. The snapshot, which aggregates and anonymizes data from the SmartDrive database of more than 220 million analyzed and scored driving events, helps fleets understand the inherent risks and costs associated with speeding and highlights opportunities to improve safety and operational efficiency.
The snapshot illuminates observations that distinguish speeding drivers as compared to all other drivers. With validation through video analysis, these findings demonstrate that drivers who speed are more likely to take other risks, be involved in near collisions and waste more fuel compared to their non-speeding colleagues.
Conclusions of the snapshot include, drivers who speed are:
- Nearly three times more likely to practice unsafe following distances;
- 45 percent more likely to be involved in a near collision;
- 54 percent more likely to cross the median or center line of the roadway;
- More than two-and-a-half times more likely to be distracted while driving;
- Consistently more likely to fail to comply with stop signs and red lights;
- More likely to engage in unsafe lane changing, merging, passing, braking and turning;
- More than three-and-a-half times more likely to drive with two hands off the wheel; and
- More likely to waste fuel—highway miles per gallon for speeding drivers is 2.7 percent lower than all other drivers
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that the total comprehensive cost of speeding is $203 billion. According to NHTSA:
- 83 percent of drivers surveyed believe driving is a safety concern, yet 64 percent say they are comfortable speeding;
- 27 percent of all fatal automobile crashes involve drivers who were speeding;
- Speeding-related fatalities increased by four percent from 2015 to 2016;
- 15 percent of speeding-related fatalities occurred on interstate highways; and
- Drivers involved in fatal crashes tend to speed more frequently at night.
“Although speeding continues to be one of the most serious problems facing the commercial transportation industry, speed limits continue to increase across the country,” Steve Mitgang, CEO of SmartDrive, says. “While everyone understands speeding is dangerous, only video safety—deployed with a cab-facing camera—provides objective measurement of the associated driving risks and the price fleets pay as a result of collisions caused by speeding, associated legal claims and vehicle damages, as well as wasted fuel. SmartDrive applauds those fleets that have taken the necessary steps to reduce speeding, protecting their drivers and the motoring public by implementing an action-oriented video safety program.”
The complete Speeding Drivers Snapshot for Trucking report is a free resource, available online. In addition to statistical data, the report includes data relating speeding to crash and maintenance costs, along with its effect on tires and fuel efficiency.