Speed and speeding
Travel speed affects both the risk of a crash happening and the severity of injuries sustained when a crash does happen. Even small increases in vehicle speed significantly impact on road safety risks.
Speeding and inappropriate travel speeds directly contribute to at least 30 per cent of deaths on Victoria’s roads each year. Impact speeds are a crucial determinant of the severity in all crashes, making it vital that speeds are managed to optimise safety outcomes.
The risk of a crash increases significantly even with small increases in speed. Travelling at 65 km/h in a 60 km/h zone doubles the risk of a crash.*
[1] Kloeden, C. N., McLean, A. J., Moore, V. M. & Ponte, G. 1997. Travelling Speed and the Risk of Crash Involvement. Federal Office of Road Safety, Canberra, page 391
Several issues are critical to managing travel speeds:
Infrastructure: Setting speed limits according to the safety standards of roads and roadsides is an effective measure to reduce the incidence and severity of crashes. For higher risk sections of roads where infrastructure improvement is not economically feasible, or would not reduce risk, speed limit reductions should be considered.
Vehicle technology: Increasing the proportion of vehicles with top speed limiting devices and intelligent speed assist (ISA) will significantly reduce the incidence of speeding.
Education: Educating drivers about the crash risks associated with speeding and the severe impacts on vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are important elements in reducing speeding. Increasing awareness of speed-related issues needs to address the common myths: that low level speeding is not a safety issue, that speed management measures do not reduce road trauma, and that enforcement is designed to raise revenue.
Enforcement: One highly effective way to reduce the incidence of speeding is through enforcement. Using appropriate intelligence, police can target speeding at high risk times and locations with on-road patrols and safety camera technology. Measures can also be taken to prevent recidivist speed offenders who lose their licences from continuing to speed when they return to driving/riding.
What the strategy will do
arrive alive 2008-2017 will take action to reduce the incidence of speeding and the number of fatalities and serious injuries caused by speeding through measures that include:
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Setting speed limits according to the safety of roads and roadsides.
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Promoting greater compliance with speed limits through:
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increasing motorist awareness of the speed/crash relationship
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increasing enforcement measures that target the small minority of motorists who put safe road users at risk with anti-social speeding behaviour
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improving signage to assist motorists to comply with speed limits
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increasing the proportion of vehicles with intelligent speed assist (ISA) and top speed limiting devices to assist motorists to comply with speed limits.
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