That Extra 2.7 Minutes
Ever wondered how much you actually achieve by speeding? Or maybe what the trade-off is between speed and risk? I found a “Fact Sheet” put out by the Institute for Road Safety Research in the Netherlands (Search the web if you want to read the whole paper – 5 pages. I think the version I’ve quoted from is an English translation so the grammar and punctuation in any quotes I’ve inserted may seem unusual.) Most of the contents of this article are taken from the fact sheet. As it turns out for rural drivers, the consequences are more significant than for urban drivers.
The fact sheet analyzed the relationship between speed and crashes drawing upon numerous studies done around the world. The Conclusion states “in general the relationship is very clear: the higher the speed, the greater the probability of a crash. At the same percentage increase in speed, the crash rate on rural roads increases more than the crash rate on urban roads. The crash rate is also higher for an individual vehicle that drives at a higher speed than the other traffic on that road.”
That may seem like a “Duh” statement, but why exactly is that? Specifically, “Higher driving speeds provide less time to process information and to act on it, and the braking distance is longer. Higher driving speeds also lead to higher collision speeds and thus to severer injury. This is a law of physics that involves the quantity of kinetic energy that is converted in an instant into heat and matter distortion.” You may be able to escape traffic law enforcement, but you cannot escape the laws of physics or probabilities.
Given these consequences, let’s look at what a typical drive/commute is for rural drivers.
Let’s assume a 50 km drive. Driving at 110 km/h vs 100 km/h will save you a total of 2.7 minutes. That number may not be actually achievable as there are always factors that don’t allow you to maintain your speed such as “getting boxed in”. If you are driving at 105 km/h, the time saved is 1.35 minutes. Ask yourself a question: What is it you are going to do with that extra 1.35 – 2.7 minutes? Only you can answer that. I’m just trying to give you the information to make your own risk/reward decision.
“The second pillar of the relation between speed and safety concerns is the risk of a crash. Irrespective of the research method used, practically all of the studies concluded that…the crash rate increases more rapidly when the speed increases.”
Now you might be saying, but I travel rural roads, they are made for faster speeds. Well maybe, but “there is a distinction between urban and rural roads. The effect of an increase in speed on rural roads is relatively greater than the effect on urban roads.”
Some will say, yeah, but it’s the slow drivers that are the problem. And it is true that “the differences in speed between vehicles also has an effect on the crash rate. The studies mostly conclude that roads with a large speed variance are less safe.” However, “They still indicate that vehicles that drive faster than average on the road have a higher crash rate; vehicles that drive slower, however were found not to have an increased risk.”
Here are some local statistics for Foothills County as taken from the Foothills Enforcement Services Traffic Safety Plan. The latest full year statistics (2023) show there were 1101 Total Collisions in the county. Of those there were 8 Fatal Collisions, 179 Injury Collisions, and “Other” Collisions 914. That’s about 2.5 collisions per day. (I have some doubts about the “Other” Collision number as it was only 570 in 2022). To give a bit broader perspective, full year total collisions in 2022 were 689 – still a high number of 1.9 collisions per day.
There are three main traffic enforcement bodies in Foothills County. As a general rule, the RCMP patrol the main highways, Alberta Sheriffs rural highways, Foothills County Enforcement Services (Peace Officers) more local roads. Each of these bodies however can issue traffic tickets on any of the 2000+ kms of highways and roads within the county. To be clear, speeding tickets are issued to save lives and injuries, not whatever else you may think they are for.
“Living Life in the Fast Lane” does have its consequences.
Dave Schroeder – HCRCWA Board Member
