Speeding, or driving over the posted speed limit, continues to be a common cause of car accidents, sometimes fatal accidents. According to the United States Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), speeding is among the most frequent causes of car accidents. This is certainly true here in Illinois, too.
A couple weeks prior to this post, at around 5:30 p.m., a black Toyota Camry was speeding above the posted speed limit on I – 94 North near 87th Street. This vehicle was occupied by its driver and one passenger. Suddenly, this speeding Camry moved slightly out of its lane of traffic. It powerfully struck a stop sign and, unfortunately, struck a concrete barrier head on. The vehicle’s two occupants were not wearing their seatbelts. They were rushed to a nearby hospital. The car’s driver, 24 years of age, was pronounced dead at the hospital and the passenger, 31 years of age, remains in critical condition.
Speeding poses major costs to our society. The NHTSA estimates that speeding-related crashes costs our society around $40 billion. In the year 2012, speeding was a cause in nearly 30 percent of all fatal car accidents. In that same year, 10,219 traffic fatalities were caused by speeding out of a total 33,561 traffic-related fatalities.