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3 ways that speeding can make crashes more dangerous

On Behalf of | Aug 20, 2020 | Firm News

Most people know that speeding is dangerous but tend to ignore that risk when it comes to their own driving habits. Some of these people overestimate their own driving skills and underestimate how faster speeds increase the amount of risk that they have.

Getting a ticket isn’t the only risk that comes with traveling at higher speeds than the posted limit in an area. There are three direct impacts of speeding on your safety that could drastically increase the likelihood of you getting into a crash.

The faster you go, the longer it takes to stop

When heavy objects travel at high speeds, they have momentum that keeps them traveling. Even when you attempt to brake, it will take some time to come to a complete stop. The higher your initial speed and the heavier your vehicle, the longer it is going to take you to stop when something changes in front of you.

Higher speeds reduce your window of reaction opportunity

The faster you travel, the quicker you will reach objects, vehicles and people on the road in front of you. The faster you cover a distance, the less reaction time you have to correct your path or stop your vehicle. Faster speeds diminish the amount of time that you have to react before a crash becomes inevitable.

Your risk of losing control or overcorrecting increases

Speeding means that your drastic maneuvers in the moments before a crash could result in your vehicle becoming out of control or even flipping over because of its existing momentum. Overcorrecting in a moment of panic could exacerbate the severity of the crash that you experience instead of helping you avoid a collision.