It is generally assumed that speed plays a large part in the chance of being involved in a road crash. Speed also plays a part in crash severity. This, however, is much more simple to determine than the relation between speed and the crash chance. During the course of time, many studies of the relation between speed and crash chance have been carried out, but they have had very varying results. This literature study aims at providing an up-to-date picture of the most important, and especially the most recent studies made of speed and its relation to crash chance. In this study, a distinction is made between studies that have reported results on a) the relation between absolute speed and crashes and b) the relation between speed distribution and crashes. In addition, the report contains an inventory of the research methods used until now to study the relation between speed and crashes.
Abstract