Speeding remains one of the leading causes of vehicle accidents in the U.S. Perhaps you incurred severe injuries in a speeding-related crash in Tampa, Florida. The losses may have been such that your own insurance company could not cover them. In such cases, victims can pursue a personal injury claim.
In some ways, survivors are fortunate because many speeding-related crashes happen to be fatal. Speeding led to 9,378 deaths in 2018. This was 26% of all the traffic deaths that year. While this represented a decline from 2010, when 10,508 people died, the numbers are still tragically high.
Younger men the most likely to speed
The 2018 data shows that the percentage of motorists who were speeding at the time of a fatal crash goes down with age. The worst were the 15- to 20-year-old drivers with 30% of males and 18% of females in this age group found speeding. Next came those aged 21 to 24 (29% among men and 14% among women) and those aged 25 to 34 (a quarter of men and 14% of women).
How road conditions and alcohol play a role
Of all the fatal crashes in 2018 that took place on dry roads, 16% involved speeding. Compare that with 45% of fatal accidents on dirty, muddy or gravelly roads and 41% of such crashes on icy or frosted roads. Snow, slush, moving water and standing water were also elements that tended to combine with speeding to produce fatal results.
Alcohol impairment was detected in 42% of speeding motorists between the ages of 25 and 44 who were involved in a fatal crash. The percentage came to 32% for those aged 55 to 64 and 22% for those under 21.
For those who wish to file a claim
Perhaps the driver who caused your crash was drunk or driving too quickly for road and weather conditions. It will be essential to your personal injury claim to prove the driver’s negligence, so you may want a lawyer to help. Third parties like crash investigators will likely come in, too. In the end, your lawyer may negotiate for a settlement that covers all your monetary and non-monetary losses.