When is it okay to exceed the speed limit in America? Well, it depends. A police officer will say “never,” and yet, at least in certain states, there’s an unofficial “10% allowance” on highways, meaning a driver might be allowed 77 mph on a freeway posted at 70 mph. There are conservative drivers who frown on such behavior, but they’re outnumbered by risk-takers who routinely ignore limits.
We know this because the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has released an exhaustive, 196-page report on speeding and America’s opinions about it, compiled after surveying 16,000 drivers and conducting eight focus groups with 58 drivers. The goal was to understand how drivers define speeding and how they view “speeding-related countermeasures,” such as speed-limit signs, roadside cameras, and police enforcement. And the results are interesting to say the least.
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65% Of Americans Are Okay With Speeding
After crunching the results, AAA grouped all the respondents into five categories, and three of those groups are okay with exceeding speed limits, in varying degrees. Starting with the most conservative drivers, AAA describes this 21% subset as “strict compliance advocates” who view speed limits as legitimate safety standards because “driving safely is part of being a good person.” The next subset is the smallest, as 14% are the “safety-focused realists” who recognize that occasional speeding might be fine, but they don’t because the risks of speeding aren’t worth the rewards.
So, while 35% of respondents follow the rules, the other 65% feel less restrained. The biggest subset is smack in the middle – the 26% described as “principled pragmatists” who stick close to posted limits but believe that experienced drivers can adjust their speeds when traffic conditions warrant it. For instance, 80 mph is often the prevailing speed on a certain Detroit freeway (posted at 70 mph), and drivers know it can be dangerous going considerably slower.
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Are You ‘Tolerant But Non-Compliant?’
The two remaining subsets are most prone to speeding and make up 39% of everyone surveyed by AAA. Let’s start with the “tolerant but non-compliant” 23% of drivers who don’t find it a big problem that everyone speeds, and that it’s an acceptable part of driving, “with convenience, habit, and situational factors often outweighing concerns about risk or enforcement.” The final subset, representing 16% of respondents, is labeled “autonomy-first,” which isn’t about autonomous cars. These drivers claim the autonomy to decide how fast they want to drive.
“These drivers view speed choice as a matter of personal judgment and strongly resist efforts by authorities or technology to constrain their driving behavior.”
–AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
AAA left no stone unturned with its study, even beyond speeding, asking people how often they see other drivers who are aggressive, impaired, distracted, or drowsy, and how those instances affect other drivers on the road. How often do they witness accidents or see a police officer stopping a driver who was speeding? Is speeding a problem of equal measure in neighborhoods, on arterial roads, and on rural and urban highways? The researchers even showed respondents a series of photos and bumper stickers pertinent to speeding, to gauge their response.
Are People Driving Too Fast, Or Are Speed Limits Too Slow?
AAA speed limit survey resultsAAA
Participants were encouraged to be honest about how often they speed, answering with anonymity, without fear of a police officer knocking on their door. AAA offered up 16 scenarios (see above) in which someone might be willing to speed, and respondents said they’re most likely to exceed speed limits when there’s no traffic, or on a long trip, or on a very familiar road, or perhaps when angry or jamming to good tunes.
At the other end, respondents said they were less likely to speed in the rain, with children on board, on an unfamiliar road, when it’s dark, or when tired. Those are common-sense driving tips for sure, but when a vast majority of people are regularly exceeding speed limits, questions about those limits – how they are set and whether they are truly safe – are sure to come up. It’s safe to say this comprehensive study is sure to raise a few eyebrows.
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CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters
In the highway planning world, standard practice relies on limits set for the “85th percentile speed” – the speed at or below which 85% of free-flowing vehicles travel. Drivers in many parts of the country know that there’s a severe disconnect between a posted speed and the prevailing pace of traffic. So, maybe speed limits should be set based on the 90th percentile rule, to align them with road conditions?
And while AAA devotes 196 pages to this study, there isn’t a single mention of the words “automaker,” “muscle car,” “aftermarket,” “horsepower,” or “torque.” Achieving 500 horsepower was a big deal long ago, but now there are multiple production cars topping 1,000 horsepower, not to mention high-performance pickup trucks topping 700 horsepower. If people can buy vehicles with this much street-legal power, you can bet customers will push the limits, in more ways than one.
Source: AAA Foundation For Traffic Safety
