LAS VEGAS -- With people dying on roads each day, we may want to look at our own speeds to lower those numbers. More than one third of all traffic deaths involve speeding, and what may be even more surprising is most of those deaths here in Nevada happen on neighborhood streets.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration looked at fatal accidents in 2009 and found that most speeding related deaths happened where the speed limit was 35 miles per hour and 45 miles per hour. But are driving any different since hearing of the recent accidents and fatalities on local streets and highways?
Speed and people not paying attention can all lead to accidents, and it only takes a split second for an accident to turn deadly.
"This is one of the worst cities when it comes to speeding and people just not aware of what's going on around," said Jeff Payne, CEO of Driving Edge. "Sixty percent of all traffic fatalities happen on the highway, and more than 50 percent of those fatalities are single vehicle."
Payne's driving edge is a non-profit program that helps prepare young drivers for behind the wheel. Two deadly accidents happened on I-215 in the last couple weeks, including this one at I-215 and Cheyenne Avenue.
"On the highway, right here at 60 miles per hour, you're traveling approximately 90 feet in that second," said Payne. "If something happens in front of you and you have a one second delay getting to the brake pedal, that 90 feet can be the difference between life and death."
Payne says most collisions could be avoided if people would remember three things: be aware, expect the unexpected, and if the unexpected does happen, don't panic.
Law enforcement points out that in fact speed is never the cause of the accident, as we may sometimes think. Speed can be one of many contributing factors that play into a crash, whether you're going five miles over the speed limit or 50.
