In an effort to understand the continued role speeding plays in highway fatalities, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) convened a national forum focusing on excessive speed. This report provides background information for the national forum in reducing speeding-related fatalities and also provides a snapshot of state countermeasures. To gauge what speeding reduction efforts states and territories are taking, GHSA asked state highway safety agencies to complete a questionnaire on the issue. The survey found that (1) State specific crash forms, though utilized by all jurisdictions, vary from state to state. (2) Speeding related crash data, if available, is available statewide in most cases. Speeding-related citation and/or conviction data is not as frequently collected or maintained in state databases. (3) Aggressive driving is rarely defined in state statutes. (4) Demographic or geographic data specific to speeding (citations or crashes) is not readily available in state database format. (5) Most jurisdictions did not isolate speeding in terms of targeting federal highway safety funding. (6) Almost all of those that responded to the survey reported a public perception that there exists a cushion above a posted speed limit in which officers will not cite offenders. The perception was that the cushion range was 5-10 miles per hour above the posted speed limit. (Author/publisher)
Abstract