If you drive, it’s highly likely you speed from time to time. Even if you feel like you’re a very safe driver, it’s rare to find someone who doesn’t ever exceed the posted speed limit by a couple of miles per hour. That’s probably true regarding both highway driving and driving in residential neighborhoods.
The NHTSA says that speeding killed 12,151 people in 2022, and that’s a normal number in most years. This makes the dangers surrounding speeding obvious. However, many drivers still do it, at least occasionally.
There’s a difference between going five miles over the speed limit every once in a while and speeding egregiously every time you get a chance, though. In this article, we will talk about how you can tell that you’ve got a problem with speeding when you drive.
You’re Collecting Speeding Tickets
You can probably tell that you’re having a problem with speeding if you’re starting to collect speeding tickets. The most responsible drivers might go through their entire life without ever getting such a ticket. If that’s you, then you’re doing great in this area.
If you get one or two speeding tickets over 20 years, that’s also probably not too bad, at least in the minds of most drivers. If you get three speeding tickets within a couple of months, though, that likely means you have a problem.
If you’re paying off multiple speeding tickets within a calendar year, that indicates a pattern, and you probably want to take a close look at the behavior. Multiple speeding tickets mean you should make a concerted effort to slow down.
You Let Your Passengers Egg You On
You may also realize that you have a problem with speeding if you frequently let some of the passengers in the car with you egg you on. Maybe you have some friends who like to bother you when you’re behind the wheel. They may try to exert peer pressure to make you drive faster when you’re out on the town.
If that’s happening, and you’re doing what they say because you’re feeling that pressure and responding to it, then that probably means you need to reconsider your friend group. If they’re bringing out the worst in you, including forms of reckless driving like speeding, then you might have to create some distance or establish some boundaries.
A Judge Threatens to Take Away Your License
If you end up in front of a judge in traffic court, and they say that if you get one more speeding ticket, they’re going to suspend your license, than that also indicates you have a speeding problem that you need to address. Typically, a judge will not threaten to suspend your license after one speeding ticket. They likely won’t do it after two tickets, either.
If you get to a point where a judge tells you they’re about to take away your license if you don’t curb your behavior, though, that means you’re speeding too much. Just about every driver would agree.
You Have Close Calls
You may also realize that you’re speeding too much and that it’s becoming a problem if you have some close calls where you almost cause an accident. Maybe you’re speeding on the highway when a car ahead of you stops suddenly. Because you’re going at an accelerated pace, you barely stop before you crash into their rear bumper.
If that kind of thing happens more than once, it probably means that you’re speeding habitually, and you need to get yourself under control. The next time, you might not get so lucky, and your excess speed might cause a devastating accident.
You’re Racing Other Drivers
You might also decide you need to slow down and curb your aggressive driving behavior if you’re either racing other drivers or posturing like you might do it. You can often find reckless drivers who will want to race you. They might signal their desire to have a spontaneous race by pulling up next to you and gunning their engine.
You should ignore these kinds of people. If you’re speeding too much, though, and you think little of driving recklessly, then you might agree to race one of these individuals.
A single race of this nature can seriously injure you, your passengers, or a pedestrian or cyclist who gets in your way. Racing means you’re speeding, and it’s an indication that you need to rethink your attitude toward vehicular safety.