Speed-Kills.info
Speed Around Town
The information on the Stopping Distance page shows that a small increase in speed translates into a substantial lengthening to your stopping distance. According to the table, if you're driving five mph over the speed limit in a 25 mph zone it will take an additional 21 feet to stop. 28 additional feet if you're driving five mph over in a 40 mph zone and 41 feet in a 65 mph zone. These distances in addition to the stopping distances at the speed limit add up very quickly. At 25 mph it takes 59 feet to stop under normal conditions. It takes 126 feet at 40 mph and 288 feet, almost the length of a football field, at 65 mph.
With all of this in mind, consider the following situation. You've just hit a dog or worse a child who was chasing after a ball. You saw the animal or kid and did everything in your power to avoid hitting it or him or her but you just couldn't get stopped in time. This terrible incident would not have happened if Fido or Billy was just 10 feet farther up the road from you. If you are driving the speed limit or below and you strike something just before coming to a stop it is unfortunate but there's nothing more you could have done, assuming you were paying attention and began braking at the earliest possible moment. I think I speak for everyone when I say; there isn't anyone on the road that wouldn't do everything they could to avoid hitting a child. Yet something a lot of people do, driving even five mph over the speed limit, could be the difference in stopping in time or tragedy.
Now think about the hardship of telling the owners of the dog or the parents of the child you hit. That alone no matter what the circumstances cannot be an easy thing to do. Then add the weight of knowing that if only you weren't speeding it could have been prevented from ever happening. Is this something you want to live with?
None of us ever want to face a situation like this. However, people regularly drive a little over the speed limit without really thinking about the possible consequences. To show you how prevalent this issue is I will be checking speeds around town and I'm open to suggestions. If you know of a place where you think people are driving too fast let me know about it and I'll check it out. I will update this page with results.