Speed Management Safety

speed odometer picture Speeding—traveling too fast for conditions or in excess of the posted speed limits—is a factor in almost one-third of all fatal crashes. In 2011, there were 32,367 fatalities on our Nation's roadways, of which 9,944 were speeding-related – down 4 percent from the previous year! Speeding is a safety concern on all roads. Although much of the public concern about speeding has been focused on high-speed Interstates, nearly half of speeding-related fatalities occur on lower speed collector and local roads.

Speeding is a complex issue involving engineering, driving behavior, education, and enforcement. That's why the U.S. DOT has set up a multimodal, multidisciplinary Speed Management Team to attack the problem. The DOT Team has a formal charter [HTML, PDF 78KB] and a work plan. FHWA is the lead agency accountable for the engineering actions.