Costs of Speeding

Speeding. Everyone does it, usually whenever they can get away with it. Whether you are worried about being late or just tired of the slow pace, going a few miles per hour above the speed limit seems unimportant and even expected.

Though speeding is common, it’s a dangerous and troublesome driving behavior. For your fleet drivers, driving over the speed limit can greatly increase the dangers they face on the road. Safety is a top priority for any fleet manager, so it’s important to understand the costs of speeding and the dangers involved.

1. Accidents, injuries, and death

Most significantly, speeding greatly increases the chances of being killed in an accident. The National Transportation Safety Board estimates that approximately 10,000 dangerous accidents are caused by speeding every year, the same amount caused by drunk driving. In fact, speeding caused 9,557 vehicle fatalities in 2015, 27% of all accident-related deaths during that year.

When drivers move at increased speeds, there are numerous dangers that are one wrong move away, including:

• Loss of vehicle control
• Increasing the destruction and severity of a vehicle accident, including any damage and injuries
• Increasing the distance required to stop a vehicle safely
• Decreasing the effectiveness of safety features
• Negatively affecting the driver’s reaction time

Whether speeding results in a fender bender or fatality, it can have serious consequences for your drivers and anyone else on the road. By training your drivers to maintain a moderate speed, you can do your part to save lives.

2. Tickets

Police officers issue around 41 million speeding tickets in America annually. Consequences can include hundreds of dollars in fines, traffic school, points on your license, or the loss of your legal ability to drive — all problematic for a fleet driver. While some officers will let speeders off with a warning, many will lay down the law and put your driver in a difficult situation. To avoid these problems and keep driving records clean, stress the importance of staying at the speed limit.

3. Increased fleet costs

Vehicle accidents can create incredibly high costs for your fleet. From vehicle damage to workman’s comp to increased insurance premiums, reckless driving can quickly demand high costs. What many drivers don’t realize, however, are the additional costs of speeding, even without accidents or tickets. For your vehicles, for example, speeding demands higher volumes of fuel and less time between maintenance. When you have to replace your vehicles sooner than expected due to the added stresses of speeding, the additional expense will quickly show. Save your company from these added costs by training your drivers to avoid speeding and letting go of those who can’t drive without a lead foot.