According to the most recent statistics gathered by the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety:

• Of all 2006 Missouri traffic crashes, more than 16 percent were speed related. 

• Of all 2006 fatal traffic crashes, more than 41 percent were speed related.

• In 2006, a total of 454 persons were killed and 13,919 were injured in speed-related traffic crashes.

Considering the dangers associated with speeding, these are distressing statistics.  No matter what type of driver you are or how experienced you are behind-the-wheel, history dictates that you cannot make your speeding vehicle defy physics.  You will need at least 61 feet and 1.07 seconds to stop a vehicle traveling at 25 mph, and a length of 350 feet and 3.2 seconds are required to stop a vehicle traveling at 70 mph.  Now, consider that you are traveling in a residential area at 70 mph and a pedestrian steps into a crosswalk.  By the time you are able to identify them as a pedestrian (remember – you are the length of a football field away!), you are already at the mercy of physics.  You will not be able to stop in time and will cause serious injury to, even the death of, the pedestrian.  However, if you were not speeding, your reaction time and distance from them could have saved their life.

It is also important to consider the dangers that lurk in your own physical-future if you are speeding, especially if you are doing so without being restrained by a seatbelt.  The injuries than can incur are so extensive that surviving the accident may not seem like a blessing in the end.  Allow us to explain:

• Head and neck injuries are the most common injuries seen at the site of motor vehicles accidents

• The faster you are traveling, the more likely you are to make impact with the dashboard, steering wheel or windshield if you are not restrained by a seat belt.

• Impact can cause irreversible brain damage, neck and spinal injury (which can lead to paralysis), facial, jaw and eye injuries and physical marring 

• If you were traveling at 85 mph and were stopped abruptly, your body just made impact with the windshield traveling at 85 mph

• Your brain will now travel at 85 mph until it crashes into your skull

• Your internal organs will travel freely within your body at your respective miles-per-hour until they make impact, thereby causing extensive internal injuries

• Your upper and lower limbs will likely shatter from the impact

Speeding is very risky driving behavior; for the sake of your own safety and the safety of others, you should obey all posted speed limits and drive in accordance with weather conditions.