Speeders ignore dangers of low-level speeding

26 Mar 2010

Media Release: 26 March 2010

The Transport Accident Commission's latest regional research has revealed that frequent speeders see no harm in low-level speeding despite acknowledging the increased risks of hitting a pedestrian or child.

Residents of Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Warragul and Bendigo who have previously received speeding offences were asked to share their attitudes to the road rules in frank focus group discussions.

The TAC's Head of Community Relations Philip Reed said many of those surveyed felt safe speeding at lower levels, as they believed being a little bit over the speed limit was acceptable for competent drivers.
 
"The drivers surveyed admitted their fear of hitting a pedestrian or child in suburban areas and school zones and yet still speed in built up areas."

The research also found that drivers believed slightly exceeding the speed limit in higher speed zones was acceptable.

"The focus group believed this was ok as there were no pedestrians and drivers could see a long way in front of them on the highway," Mr Reed said.

"But, travelling 10kmh faster than the rest of the traffic doubles the risk of serious crash. This risk increases nearly six times when travelling 20kmh faster than the traffic," Mr Reed said.

The TAC regional research was conducted in conjunction with Sweeney Research in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Warragul and Shepparton.

It's the second time that the TAC has conducted regional research focus groups to uncover attitudes to driving behaviours.

The detailed responses from each of the towns can be found in this table (pdf 30k).