Do not exceed residential area speed limit for a week.
If you don’t have your driving license, remind the one driving you not to exceed speed limits.
“Baseball is like driving, it’s the one who gets home safely that counts.”
-Tommy Lasorda
Well, guys, we don’t know about you, but we exceed speed limits on a daily basis, at least we used to. We’re not talking about much, but 10 km/h (6 mph) can make a big difference.
Now we really do our best to obey every speed limit sign. We won’t be lying to you, unfortunately, we still exceed speed limits from time to time but not in cities or towns, where there are pedestrians, intersections, cyclists – a lot of stuff which require extra attention.
Never to forget – facts about driving
We live in a fast-paced world, which puts us in a constant hurry. But don’t forget, that speeding while driving can have catastrophic consequences. We’re sure you all know what we are about to say, but still, let us remind you: sitting behind the steering wheel represents an enormous responsibility.
We are not trying to scare you. The latter goes especially for young drivers or drivers to be. But there are simply a lot of things that can go wrong even if we take all the possible precautions and consider every single “how to be a good driver” tip.
Being involved in a car accident or even causing one is something that almost every driver in the world will encounter throughout his/her driving days. That is a fact!
Speed is a great factor
It makes a great difference at what speed an accident happens. Let’s take a look at the following example:
- adult pedestrian struck by a car at 50 km/h (31 mph): 20 % risk of dying.
- adult pedestrian struck by a car at 80 km/h (50 mph): 60 % risk of dying.
Keep that in mind.
Car accident facts
There are over 300 million drivers in Europe and over 200 million in the US alone. According to those numbers, it’s no surprise there are so many accidents every day. As statistics show, one of the main reasons is speeding.
According to U.S. Department of transportation speeding-related fatalities represent more than 30 % of all fatal crashes.
So, no wonder we’ve all read or heard about many car accident stories. Unfortunately, many of us have at least one of our own. We can only hope there’s not many involving fatal car crash death.
Cruel reality (source: ASIRT – Association for Safe International Road Travel):
- On average 3,287 people die in road crashes every day, that’s nearly 1.3 million each year.
- Additional 20 – 50 million are injured or disabled.
- More than half of all road traffic accidents occur among ages 15 – 44.
- Road crashes are the leading cause of death among young people ages 15-29, and the second leading cause of death worldwide among children ages 5-14.
- Unless action is taken, road traffic injuries are predicted to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030.
“Teenagers are much more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a car crash than in a knife fight or drug overdose”
-Edmund King (AA President)
In case any of you lost your loved one in a car accident, we extend our deepest sympathies to you and your family. Our plan wasn’t to make any of you depressed.
Please, think of what you’ve read as an additional encouragement to successfully finish this week’s challenge. You can look at it as a free driving practice test, which you’ll pass by obeying speed limits. 🙂
And please, don’t forget about all that after this week is over, always keep in mind that you bear a great responsibility when driving. Moreover, don’t do it to avoid getting tickets, do it for fellow Earthlings, do it for yourself.
An additional way to protect yourself
Even though we obey all traffic rules and pay extra attention things can go wrong. In that case, we can only hope the accident wasn’t severe. And as most of you know, every car crash brings a lot of bills.
In addition, most of the insurance companies out there are looking for a way not to cover your expenses, which, by the way, can be enormous. We found a car/dashboard camera to be a great means to ensure some additional protection.
Furthermore, you should always keep a first aid kit in your car to be able to help yourself, your loved ones and others in case of a car accident.
Take-home points:
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too many people die in car accidents;
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most at risk is the younger population;
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to lose a loved one due to a reckless driver is unimaginably hard, but bearing the responsibility of knowing that you could have saved a life just by driving slower can be even harder;
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do your best to always respect residential area speed limit;
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in case something goes wrong – protect yourselves.
Be a Good Earthling and drive safely.
Your comments are more than welcome. We also invite you to share your car accident stories with us, if you’d like.
With love and care,
Good Earthlings
Speed is a huge factor in car accidents. I took a 16 passenger van training class for work and drive slower was the answer to practically everything. Its much better to take your time then not make it home at all.
It’s great to hear that! Keep up the good driving!
Best, Good Earthlings
Hi, I just recently accidentally discovered your blog, and I really like it. It seems that you really want to help people, and I appreciate it! Looks like you are a new blogger, and you’re doing a great job so far! I really respect people who are trying something new and helping others! Car accidents are the real problem these days. Many young drivers are careless these days. It always looks so stupid when young people try to look cool in front of their friends by driving dangerously…
Than you for your kind and encouraging words! We sure hope you’ll also like our posts in the future.
Warm regards,
Good Earthlings
Staggering statistics on the amount of people killed or injured in car crashes every year. I know you guys said that you weren’t try to scare people but man, that did it in a good way for me.
I’ve recently I think realized my own mortality and have tried to be extremely careful when driving, because you’re right it could happen to anyone. It’s something that we need to do our best to put a stop to.
It really is scary, yes. But if we all do our best – always watch out for ourselves, the car in front and the car behind – we got nothing to worry about.
Take care!
Love, Good Earthlings
Hi,
I like you safe driving challenge as it is really simple and something most drivers need to take on board. The statistics showing the chance of being killed by a car driving at different speeds is interesting. I wonder if this is the same for children, or if a much slower car would still cause a lot more injury to a child? We have to be so careful around child-dense areas such as schools and parks.
All the best, I hope to read some more of your challenges.
Catherine
Hi!
We weren’t to find the actual number regarding car speed hitting a child, but as you predicted, they are more fragile. So even lower speed is preferred in areas where there’s a lot of children. The same goes for older people.
Best,
Good Earthlings
Good report! I agree that people need to slow down. Sadly, most have an everyone-but-me attitude about the need (with myself included).
But it does make me think about all of the people that drive slowly in the fast lanes. They may be trying to go their preferred speed, or perhaps they are trying to let everyone else know that all should drive the speed limit.
Either way, they actually increase the likelihood of accidents because all of the people behind them begin to get closer to them so that they will move over.
I say this only so that as people are slowing down to obey the speed limits as you asked, do not do so to slow down others as well. As you are respecting the laws, please respect that others do not and that getting in their way can have even more dangerous outcomes.
Do you agree?
We hear you Richard. We are from Europe and in our country people really respect the fast lane. It happens from time to time that someone is slowing down others, but usually drivers just us it to pass slower cars and then they return to slower lane. But when we were in the US we were really surprised how many drivers stay on it even though they aren’t overtaking cars on slower lane. At first we thought they have a different rules there, but later we realized there is just a lot of bad and inconsiderate drivers.
So, like you said, dear drivers, use fast lanes just to pass slower cars. In case you are driving in a fast lane and you see a faster car approaching in your rear-view mirror move aside as soon as possible.
Best regards,
Good Earthlings