Concerned at the increase in the number of auto accidents caused by speeding motorists, a coalition of safety groups has launched two new pilot projects in two separate states aimed at designing strategies to prevent these devastating crashes.
The coalition consisting of the Governors Highway Safety Association, the National Safety Foundation and the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety are funding two separate pilot projects to study ways to reduce the impact of high speeds on motorist safety. The two states are being granted $100,000 each to design and develop speed management strategies to prevent these crashes. The programs are meant to focus on a combination of engineering design and enhancements and infrastructure improvements, as well as other proven methods of reducing speeding- related accidents, including education and awareness as well as public outreach. One state is expected to implement the program in a rural setting, while the other will implement the program in an urban area. The goal of the initiative is to design appropriate speed management strategies that can help reduce the impact of speed on highway safety.
Speed has always been a harmful factor in car accidents in the metro Atlanta region. Unfortunately, over the past year, the role of speeding related car accidents that resulted in fatalities has actually increased. Approximately, nine thousand people die annually in accidents caused directly by speeding motorists. Those numbers increased in 2020 when lower traffic volumes led to an increase in the number of motorists driving at excessive speeds, leading to a spike in the number of related accident deaths recorded last year. Speeding related accidents and their resulting injuries disproportionately affect teenage drivers more due to their relative lack of skill and maturity behind the wheel.
Speeding impacts not just motorists driving passenger vehicles, but also pedestrians, motorcyclists and bicyclists. In fact, the increase in pedestrian accident deaths last year is being blamed partly on the higher volumes of speeding motorists in 2020. Lower traffic volumes in several cities, including the metro Atlanta region, directly contributed to an increase in the number of speeding motorists.
The Governors Highway Safety Association believes that it is important to develop new strategies to prevent speeding-related accidents, because of an increase in the incidence of such dangerous behaviors recently. There is now, disturbingly enough, an increasing public acceptance of such dangerous practices, compounded by the increase in speed limits in several states. Accidents caused by speeding are almost always devastating accidents with a high risk of ending in injuries or fatalities.
The Atlanta car accident attorneys at the Katz Personal Injury Lawyers are dedicated to the representation of persons who have suffered injuries as a result of accidents caused by speeding or any other types of car crashes in the metro Atlanta region and across Georgia. If you or a loved one have suffered injuries in an accident, talk to an attorney at our firm and determine if you have legal options for a claim for damages. You could qualify for compensation that includes medical expenses, lost income as well as other forms of economic and non – economic damages. Talk to an attorney at our firm, and discuss your claim.