Lake County, IL – During Illinois Speed Awareness Day this July 27th, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office is taking a proactive approach to promoting safety for motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists through both education and enforcement. In Illinois during 2014, speed was the reason for 32.4% of all traffic fatalities. That’s 348 deaths for the year, or one life every 25 hours. These lives can be easily saved by being aware of our speed and understanding how speeding impacts a crash.

In urban areas, speeding can have the following consequences:

• 348 lives were lost in 2014 on Illinois roadways from speeding.
• 55% of the total lives lost in Illinois from motor vehicle crashes were in urban areas.
• The higher the speed at impact, the more severe the injuries sustained.
• 37.4% of the speed-related crashes result in injuries.
• When speeding there is a greater chance that other road users will misjudge how fast you are traveling.
• Speeding extends the distance required to stop a vehicle in emergency situations.
• 87% of the speed-related fatalities occur on local roadways.
• Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to navigate safely around curves or objects in the roadway.
• A 1% decrease in travel speed reduces injuries by about 2%, a serious crash by 3% & a fatal crash by 4%.

Let’s all do our part by taking a proactive approach to prevent fatalities and reduce injuries on the roadways by being aware of our speed and obeying the speed limit signs ALL the time.

Sheriff Mark Curran said, “Statistics show that speed kills, all drivers need to be aware of their speed and ensure they are always traveling within the posted speed limit.” Undersheriff Ray Rose added, “Lake County Sheriff’s Deputies are aware of the dangers of speeding and therefore, our Highway Patrol Division makes it a priority every day to enforce the speed limit.”

If you would like more information about Illinois Speed Awareness Day, please visit www.illinoisspeedawarenessday.org.