Many drivers regularly exceed speed limits. When asked (Figure 2; [10]), Dutch drivers say they mainly do so because they want to adapt their speed to other traffic, because they are in a hurry, because they enjoy it, or because they do so inadvertently. A few of them indicate they do so out of boredom.
Reasons to comply with speed limits (Figure 3) are: road safety, the mandatory nature of the limits, and the risk of being fined. The environment and fuel costs are clearly less important.
Figure 2. Percentage of Dutch drivers giving these motives for speeding in 2011, by road type [10].
Figure 3. Percentage of Dutch drivers giving these motives for respecting speed limits in 2011, by road type [10].
About 10% of Dutch drivers indicate they sometimes exceed speed limits inadvertently (Figure 2). There are four situations in which drivers are prone to drive too fast inadvertently [11] [12]:
- After prolonged driving at a high speed on motorways for instance, road users underestimate their own speed and drive faster and faster without noticing.
- When downshifting from a relatively high speed to a considerably lower speed, road users do not slow down enough. Examples are: when leaving the motorway, entering the urban area, or if a straight road stretch is followed by a series of curves.
- When there is only little peripheral information (information about the immediate environment), road users miss reference points to which they can relate their own speed. Examples are: at night, in fog, and on very open roads in a flat landscape.
- In high-wheeled cars, such as an SUV or other jeep-like car, speed perception is distorted and speed is underestimated.
In general, driving comfort has increased in the last few decades. Noise and vibration levels at high speeds have strongly decreased. This does not only apply to larger and heavier cars, but also to smaller ones. That is why drivers receive less physical feedback when driving at high speeds. The sense of ‘driving fast’ diminishes, as it were.
