It’s no secret that good time management is one of the key pillars of success. The ability to reliably make time for things is a major life skill that can take years if not decades to properly develop, as taking shortcuts to do things faster and ‘more efficiently’ will always be tempting no matter what kind of person you are. This is the core of the issue in regards to speeding, as similar to other forms of dangerous driving such as tailgating or brake-checking, speeding is an act most often done intentionally by the driver themselves. Unlike both of the aforementioned examples, however, speeding is not inherently malicious or aggressive by nature, though this does not mean that it is safe to speed by any measures.
Why People Choose to Speed
As we’ve already established, speeding is almost always done intentionally. While everyone has their own validations for blatantly breaking the law, the most common justification for speeding is for cutting down on travel time. This is, objectively speaking, true. Going at a higher, faster speed will indeed make you get to your destination quicker than if you were driving the speed limit. However, this argument doesn’t hold up for a variety of reasons.
For starters, the risk of causing an accident vastly outweighs any reward of getting to your destination quickly. Speeding is one of the leading causes of accidents and fatalities on the road, being responsible for upwards of 11,000 deaths in 2020 alone. Secondly, while speeding definitely makes you go faster, it doesn’t impact travel time in such a direct fashion. While the difference between 40 mph and 50 mph is noticeable, the difference between 70 mph and 80 mph is negligible at best, meaning that once you go above a certain threshold the risk of speeding absolutely outweighs any rewards the driver might experience. Finally, it can become a habit for drivers, and habits can be hard to break. As previously explained, speeding is a deliberate choice, but unlike other forms of dangerous driving the solution to this may be simpler than it seems.
What You Can Do About Speeding
Combatting speeding is a matter of one simple factor: self control. Everyone’s driven over the speed limit at least once, whether it was due to being late for work, a major life event, or just the simple pleasure of going fast. However, it is important to remember that your risk of causing a major accident vastly outweighs any positives that might come with this behavior. If you want to learn more about speeding, and how to stay SAFER as a driver, check out our other articles and keep yourself informed!
