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One in 10 Drivers Admit to Extreme Speeding in National Survey by Erie Insurance
Drivers fess up to driving 20 or more mph over the speed limit during the early months of the pandemic, and half of drivers say extreme speeding continues
About this update from Erie Indemnity Company
[{"type":"text","content":"Drivers fess up to driving 20 or more mph over the speed limit during the early months of the pandemic, and half of drivers say extreme speeding continues\n\n\nERIE, Pa., Oct. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With national highway safety organizations sounding the alarm about an increase in speeding during the early months of the pandemic and launching programs to combat it, Erie Insurance recently commissioned a national survey to gauge drivers' attitudes and behaviors regarding speeding.\n\n \n \n\n \nOne in 10 drivers (11%) admitted to driving at extreme speeds (20 mph or more over the speed limit) much more often than normal during the early months of the pandemic. As for what they observed about other drivers, a third (33%) said it seemed like a lot more drivers than normal were speeding and of those, nearly six in 10 (57%) said they noticed more drivers going at extreme speeds.\nAccording to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, high speeds make fatal car crashes more likely because it takes longer to stop or slow down and crash energy increases exponentially as speeds go up. IIHS says that in 2019, the most recent year for which data are available, more than 9,000 deaths – or one in four car crash fatalities – occurred in speed-related crashes.\n\"We commissioned this survey to draw attention to the fact that speeding is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths, but the good news is that it's a problem we can all do something about,\" said Jon Bloom, vice president of personal auto, Erie Insurance. \"It's within the power of every driver to simply drive within the speed limit. That would save literally thousands of lives each year.\"\nWhen asked why they sped much more often than normal early in the pandemic, drivers who admitted to doing so said it was because:\nThe roads were not congested so they felt it was safe to drive faster than posted speed limits\n66%\nThey're a good driver so felt they could drive safely, even at high speeds\n46%\nIt seemed like there was far less law enforcement out, so they felt they could speed without getting a ticket\n34%\nThey thought that in general, posted speed limits are slower than necessary and they prefer to drive faster\n25%\nThe empty roads were a good opportunity to see how fast their car could go\n17%\nWhile 46% of all drivers who sped much more often than normal during th...