Now that we’re well into the summer season, it’s nice to feel like you can relax while driving. For the time being, you don’t need to worry about snow and ice affecting your drive or your parking situation. Right now, you can experience plenty of enjoyment simply by driving down a dry roadway that has plenty of sunlight shining over it. However, while the warmer summer weather takes away some of the typical winter snow and ice issues, it can also be misleading. While many of us feel pleasure while driving down a sunny, summertime road, we also sometimes feel too comfortable and secure with our driving situation. When that happens, you’ll probably feel overly confident and be temped to drive over the speed limit.

Speeding is Not a Victimless Crime

While many of us often think speeding is a crime that won’t injure anybody, that’s an assumption that is far from the truth. The grim reality of making an assumption like that is that it can be catastrophic. Many statistics involving Minnesota motorists clearly demonstrate otherwise. For example, 113 motorists died in 2018 while out on our state’s roads, and experienced speed-related crashes. And as if that fact wasn’t frightening enough, those 113 deaths in one year is the highest number of speed-related deaths that Minnesota has seen in a decade. In 2017, there were only 88 speed-related deaths, so the increase in speed-related traffic deaths is certainly shocking. In 2018, 30 of the 113 motorists that died as a result of speed-related crashes passed away over the summer. If you didn’t already know it, that’s why many motorists nickname the time from Memorial Day to Labor Day the 100 deadliest days.

There Is No Real Justification for Speeding

When we speed, we often think we have the right to do it. People often justify speeding when they’re running late to something, or they simply assume that speeding is just as safe as driving the speed limit because they are such wonderful drivers. However, all of these justifications are really false, because the statistics and facts demonstrate otherwise. For instance, it’s a known fact that when people are speeding, they put themselves at a greater risk for losing control of their vehicles because they are effectively increasing their stopping distance. Speeding also creates other problems like giving a driver less time to react as quickly as other drivers. With a decreased time to react to other drivers, you may have more difficulty avoiding crashes. With all that added speed, if you do get into a crash, you are increasing the severity of the crash for all individuals involved.

For those people who simply won’t listen to facts, perhaps added law enforcement interaction focused on speeding will slow you down. Right now through July 21, over 300 law enforcement agencies are working on a speed extra enforcement campaign. That means law enforcement will be working overtime to cut back on speeding.