What to Know
Contributing factors often play a role in a high speed collision. These may involve the use of drugs or alcohol, aggressive driving, reckless driving, or driving while distracted. Although any motorist may speed, younger people are more likely to drive at dangerous speeds than older drivers.
While high speed collisions may occur anywhere, they most frequently take place on highways or other roads with relatively high speed limits.
Speeding drivers pose a huge threat to anyone else on the roadway. Even a skilled motorist has more trouble controlling a vehicle traveling at high speed.
Due to the severity of the impact, victims of high-speed crashes are often trapped in their vehicles. Emergency personnel may have to use the “jaws of life” and cut the car open to extricate the occupants. The impact may also cause the vehicle to roll over or perhaps get pushed into another lane, where another vehicle strikes it.