Rational
The claim, ‘Every K over is a killer has several aspects that could be investigated. The claim implies that driving an excessive amount over the regulated speed limit is dangerous and could cause possible death.
The first aspect that can be investigated is what speed limits are and how speed limits are appropriately chosen for different areas and driving conditions. The research found that speed limits are set to improve safety by reducing the probability and severity of a crash. Speed limits may also be set in an attempt to reduce the environmental impact of road traffic and lower speeds reduce vehicle noise, vibration, and emissions CITATION Roa191 l 3081 (Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales, 2019).
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Another aspect that could be investigated is why people actually speed and whether speeding actually gets you to your destination faster. Although speed limits are put in place, research shows that people continue to deny them and exceed the speed limits. Traffic, road congestion, and running late are the most frequently mentioned factors in aggressive driving, such as speeding. Anonymity and disregard for others and for the law are also other reasons why people speed on Australian roads CITATION Nat18 l 3081 (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2018).
The research was conducted and the research question to be investigated is as follows:
How does speed affect the probability of a fatal crash on Australian roads?
To be able to answer and give an appropriate response to the following research question, research will be conducted to find out statistics on speed-related fatalities, how speeding affects your impact speed, and how speeding affects your stopping distances.
Statistics that show speeding-related deaths many statistics show the relationship between speeding and the cause of speed-related fatalities in Australia. One source states that around 90% of all crashes are due to a minor mistake, just as small as being distracted, fatigued, or going even just a little over the speed limit CITATION QBE17 l 3081 (QBE Insurance, 2017).
A professor from the Australian Academy of Science CITATION Aus15 l 3081 (Australian Academy of Science, 2015) has stated that a car traveling at 65 km/h is twice as likely to be involved in a crash as a car traveling at 60 kilometers per hour and that risk is approximately doubled for every 5 km/h above 60 km/h. This can show that a car traveling at 65 km/h was twice as likely to be involved in a crash as one traveling at 60 km/h and for a car traveling at 70 km/h, the risk increased fourfold.
Speeding affects your impact speed.
Speeding is been shown to drastically affect your impact speed in the case of a crash. The Australian Capital Territory police, roads and safety department CITATION Aus18 l 3081 (Australian Federal Police, 2018) has stated that The impact of a collision at 50km/h is the equivalent of a vehicle falling from a three-story building, with you inside. Double the speed to 100km/h and prepare for the equivalent of a 12-story drop.
The physics behind this show that, in a crash, your kinetic energy increases exponentially with speed. A doubling of speed is not equal to twice as much kinetic energy, but rather a substantial increase much beyond that and it is much more lethal. A 20% increase in speed is roughly a 45% increase in kinetic energy CITATION Wes15 l 3081 (Western Australia Police Force, 2015).
The kinetic energy of a moving vehicle is dependent on the mass of the car and the car's velocity squared. In a situation of a crash, some of the kinetic energy is absorbed by your vehicle (which is why your car is damaged) and some are transferred to the object you hit, whether it be another vehicle, tree, or even a pedestrian CITATION Roa19 l 3081 (Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales, 2019). This means the more kinetic energy to be absorbed in a collision, the greater the potential for injury to vehicle occupants and anyone hit by the vehicle. Because kinetic energy is determined by the square of the vehicle's speed, rather than by speed alone, the probability of injury, and the severity of injuries that occur in a crash, rapidly become greater with vehicle speed.
Therefore, the faster you are traveling in a vehicle, the greater risk of the possibility of a crash, and in the case of a crash, will greatly increase the risk of injury, or possible death.
Speeding affects your stopping distances (reaction times). Driving over the displayed speed limit greatly affects your stopping and braking distancing. Your braking distance is defined as a measurement of how far your vehicle travels during the time it takes to come to a complete stop once you have hit the brakes CITATION Ace19 l 3081 (Aceable, 2019). In an emergency, it is said that an average driver takes approximately 1.5 seconds to react to a hazard on the road CITATION Que16 l 3081 (Queensland Government, Transport Roads, and Safety, 2016).
When speeding, you travel further in the time it takes you to notice and react to hazards on the road, meaning you have less time to react and respond than someone not speeding CITATION Bud19 l 3081 (Budget Direct Insurance, 2019).
The following graph shows the distance it takes to stop while traveling at different speeds, on different road conditions. For example, when traveling at a speed of 100km/h, it takes up to 42m to react to the hazard. It then takes approximately 56m in dry conditions to come to a complete stop. That is a total distance of almost 100m to stop.
Stopping distances: speed and braking - CITATION Que16 l 3081 (Queensland Government, Transport Roads, and Safety, 2016)Limitations of EvidenceQuality of EvidenceThe statement, “90% of all crashes are due to a minor mistake, just as small as being distracted, fatigued or going even just a little over the speed limit” was made by the QBE Insurance in 2017. As this evidence was created by an insurance company, that’s trying to sell its service to car owners, this source could be considered biased which could affect the accuracy of the statement.
Although evidence from highly credible and reliable sources such as The Queensland Government, Transport Roads, and Safety and Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales was used throughout the report.
Evaluation of the Claim
The research question, “How does speed affect the probability of a fatal crash on Australian roads?” was addressed by gathering evidence. The evidence suggests that speeding does affect your impact speeds and stopping distances. The findings of this investigation, if applied to the claim, suggest that the claim can be supported by the evidence gathered in this investigation.
Conclusion
Through in-depth research into if, speed affects the probability of a fatal crash on Australian roads; evidence shows that speeding does affect your impact speeds and stopping distances. This report concludes that the claim ‘Every K over is a Killer’, can be identified as a true statement.
Improvements and ExtensionsIn order to address the limitations of the evidence identified previously, some improvements could be made. The first improvement would be to research how crumple zones of a car affect the severity of the outcome of a crash. This claim could be extended further by an investigation into other factors of speeding-related deaths such as the use of seatbelts, distractions, and reaction time. Further data is required to establish how the hydrogen fuel is heated to such a high temperature. Further investigation on how things like speed cameras affect your driving behavior.
Bibliography
- BIBLIOGRAPHY Aceable, 2019. How Speed Affects Braking Distance. [Online] Available at: https://www.aceable.com/safe-driving/how-speed-affects-braking-distance/[Accessed 4 November 2019].
- Australian Academy of Science, 2015. The physics of speeding cars. [Online] Available at: https://www.science.org.au/curious/technology-future/physics-speeding-cars[Accessed 6 November 2019].
- Australian Federal Police, 2018. Speeding. [Online] Available at: https://police.act.gov.au/road-safety/safe-driving/speeding[Accessed 2 November 2019].
- Budget Direct Insurance, 2019. Speeding Statistics. [Online] Available at: https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/car-insurance/research/speeding-statistics-australia.html[Accessed 4 November 2019].
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2018. Speeding. [Online] Available at: https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/speeding[Accessed 3 November 2019].
- QBE Insurance, 2017. The Most Common Causes of Car Accidents. [Online] Available at: https://www.qbe.com/au/news/the-most-common-causes-of-car-accidents[Accessed 2 November 2019].
- Queensland Government, Transport Roads, and Safety, 2016. Stopping distances: speed and braking. [Online] Available at: https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/safety/road-safety/driving-safely/stopping-distances[Accessed 4 November 2019].
- Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales, 2019. Why do we need speed limits? [Online] Available at: https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/saferroadsnsw/speedlimits-why.pdf[Accessed 2 November 2019].
- Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales, 2019. How does speeding increase the chances and severity of a crash? [Online] Available at: https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/saferroadsnsw/speeding_and_crashes.pdf[Accessed 4 November 2019].
- Western Australia Police Force, 2015. Consequences of speed. [Online] Available at: https://www.police.wa.gov.au/Traffic/Cameras/Speed/Consequences-of-speed[Accessed 3 November 2019].
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