Speed and road accidents: risk perception, knowledge and attitude towards penalties for speeding

Abstract

Speed is one of the elements that most contributes to road fatality, and this explains the fact that it is often dealt with in the road safety field. The objective of this research was to understand the risk perception, attitude, and knowledge of the participants towards speeding and penalties for speeding. A sample of 1,100 Spanish drivers over 14 years old was used and they filled in a questionnaire. The average rate assessment of the risk of traffic crash was 8.3 (on a scale of 0 to 10). Participants would punish the speeding behaviour with great severity; an average of 8.2 on a scale of 0 to 10. Almost all participants (97.1%) agreed that speeding is a punishable behaviour. It is necessary to educate drivers to respect speed limits, to improve roads’ infrastructure, to establish appropriate speed limits, to put signs properly, to improve vehicle engineering, and to use in-vehicle devices to control speeding.