City Services and ACT Policing have teamed up on a road safety campaign highlighting the dangers of casual speeding.
Launching the Casual speeding. Every K counts campaign, City Services said the campaign focused on low range speeding, “the kind of speeding you might think won’t make a difference”.
“Just five or 10 kilometres over the speed limit really can make all the difference,” City Services said.
“The campaign demonstrates the real risks and consequences of going ‘just a bit’ over the speed limit or driving too fast for the conditions,” it said.
“Speeding at five kilometres an hour above the speed limit increases both the likelihood of a crash occurring, and the severity of driver and pedestrian injuries in a crash.”
City Services said that for car occupants in a crash with an impact speed of 80 km/h, the likelihood of death was 20 times what it would have been at an impact speed of 30 km/h.
It said the relationship between speed and injury severity was particularly critical for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.
“For example, pedestrians have been shown to have a 90 per cent chance of survival when struck by a car travelling at 30 km/h or below, but less than 50 per cent chance of surviving an impact at 45 km/h. Pedestrians have almost no chance of surviving an impact at 80 km/h,” the Directorate said.
“Every driver can make a real difference by making the safe choice to never exceed the limit – not even by just a few extra kilometres per hour – and drive to the road conditions every time they get behind the wheel.”
