The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has revised the definition of a speeding-related crash. A crash is considered speeding-related if the driver was charged with a speeding-related offense or if an officer indicated that racing, driving too fast for conditions, or exceeding the posted speed limit was a contributing factor in the crash. Speeding is one of the most prevalent factors contributing to traffic crashes. This traffic safety fact sheet contains statistics on speeding-related crashes in the USA in 2001(including previous years). In 2001, speeding was a contributing factor in 30% of all fatal crashes, and 12,850 lives were lost in speeding-related crashes. The 2001 costs of speeding-related crashes were estimated to be 40.4 billion US dollars (76,865 US dollars per minute or 1,281 US dollars per second).
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