NEWS RELEASE
COLORADO STATE PATROL
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It’s not that that troopers are fun wreckers or that we want you to take longer to get where you’re going. It’s all about saving lives, and troopers understand better than most that speed makes stopping more dangerous.
In 2023 the Colorado State Patrol investigated 4,476 crashes where speed was the leading factor. Fifteen percent of those crashes involved an injury or fatality because when you combine speed with an uncontrolled and immediate reduction in velocity, bad things occur.
Inside every crash involving excessive speed is multiple additional crashes.
Your heart and lungs slam into your ribs. If you’re not wearing a seatbelt, your head stops upon contact with the windshield.
That bunt cake from last Christmas in the backseat? It becomes a missile through the car as you careen into the weeds and thickets off the shoulder before the vehicle finally stops moving entirely.
Bent bumpers and wrinkled paint are not the only victims of excessive speed and sudden stops. Seatbelts, airbags and crumple zone technology on cars are designed to make up for our lack of good discretion when it comes to speed and sudden stops, but they can only do so much. They cannot slow every impact that occurs inside your car.
At 40 mph an average driver responds to a hazard and brings their vehicle to a stop in 139 feet. At 50 mph it takes 198 feet and at 60 mph you will travel 268 feet before stopping.
As speeds continue to climb, this stopping distance will also continue to increase. You will cover 439 feet before reacting to a hazard and stopping your car at 80 mph, nearly 1.5 football fields.
These stopping distance equations use numbers that represent an average response time. If there are factors that influence that reaction time, we can grow the stopping distance exponentially.
This is why managing your speed, following distance and distractions are all so important when driving.
The Colorado State Patrol is asking that drivers think beyond the fines, points and increased insurance premiums associated with a speeding ticket, and consider the hazards that will forever change their lives when driving.
Build in time to stop on your own accord by slowing down, providing adequate following distances and avoiding distractions.
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