During Illinois Speed Awareness Day this July 24, the Wheaton Police Department is taking a proactive approach to promote safety for motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists through both education and enforcement. In Illinois during 2017, speed was the reason for 42% of all fatal crashes. That’s 462 deaths for the year, or one life every 19 hours. These lives can be easily saved by being aware of our speed and understanding how speeding impacts a crash.
In residential areas, speeding can have the following consequences:
• When a pedestrian is hit by a car at 20 MPH, there is a 10% likelihood of being killed; at a speed of 30 MPH, the percentage increases to a 50% likelihood of being killed.
• The higher the speed at impact, the more severe the injuries sustained.
• 37.9% of the speed-related crashes result in injuries.
• There is a greater chance that other road users will misjudge how fast you are traveling if you are speeding.
• Speeding extends the distance required to stop a vehicle in emergency situations.
• Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to navigate safely around curves or objects in the roadway.
Let’s all do our part by taking a proactive approach to prevent fatalities and reduce injuries on the roadways by being aware of our speed and obeying the speed limit signs ALL the time.
Illinois Speed Awareness Day, which takes place July 24, is a traffic initiative led by the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and Families Against Chronic Excessive Speed 4 (FACES4). For more information about Illinois Speed Awareness Day, please visit www.illinoisspeedawarenessday.org.