The West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program is teaming up with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to remind motorists and motorcyclists to slow down and obey posted speed limits when traveling on West Virginia’s roads. Speeding is a dangerous, illegal, and aggressive behavior responsible for more than one-quarter of all traffic-related fatalities nationally and nearly one-quarter of roadway fatalities in West Virginia.
The GHSP and NHTSA are working to put an end to this unsafe and preventable driving behavior during a nationwide speed prevention campaign taking place this month. Targeted high visibility enforcement began July 14 and will continue through July 30.
Speeding has become a focus of highway safety professionals both nationwide and in West Virginia due to an increase in risk-taking and careless driving over the past few years. In 2021 alone, 12,330 people were killed in speeding-related crashes nationwide. That same year, 64 people died on West Virginia’s roads due to crashes involving speeding.
Speed limits are not a suggestion; they are the law. Obeying posted speed limits keeps drivers and passengers safe.
Speed limits are set for clear, sunny weather and dry road conditions. If roads are wet, snowy, or icy, drivers should reduce their speed to maintain safe control of their vehicle. Although improvements in vehicle safety and passenger protection have made incredible strides over the past few decades, it is still the driver’s responsibility to control their speed and maintain control of the vehicle when behind the wheel.
Much like impaired or distracted driving, speeding is a selfish choice that can have deadly consequences for the driver, other drivers, vehicle passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians.
The message is clear: Speeding Wrecks Lives. Please slow down.
To learn more about speeding, go to nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/speeding.
For more information about the West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program, visit highwaysafety.wv.gov or call 304-926-2509.
