Why You Shouldn’t Speed on a Family Road Trip

Chances are, you probably drive faster than the speed limit every day. Speeding is a common driving behaviour that is seemingly harmless.

You might have no issue going a few miles over the speed limit at home, so it becomes a habit that you don’t think twice about. This habit will surely carry over to any driving that you do during a road trip.

However, speeding is incredibly dangerous and never worth it. In 2017, speeding caused 17% of all car accidents. This shows that speeding will cause problems for you and there’s no reason to face them during a family road trip.

Beyond the danger that you place your family in while speeding, there are several other good reasons to stick to the speed limit. We’ll cover these below so that you can commit to making good driving choices during your next family road trip!

No Time Is Saved

One of the biggest misconceptions about speeding is that it gets you to your destination faster.

In contrast, speeding does not get you to your destination much faster at all. During a two-hour trip, you might save less than five minutes of travel time.

This is if you’re lucky. Realistically, you might encounter several different obstacles that slow you down during your trip. You might get stopped at traffic lights, stop signs, and get held up in traffic that makes your speeding irrelevant.

On the other hand, speeding during a lengthy road trip spanning hundreds of freeway miles will lead to significant time savings. If you were to drive 500 miles nonstop, you’d save roughly an hour by going 10 MPH above the speed limit the entire time.

Something to keep in mind is that you probably won’t drive for 500 miles straight. You’re likely to stop and take breaks, go to the bathroom, eat, and stretch your legs.

This means that the time savings from speeding are minimal and will only be a few minutes in total. This amount isn’t worth running the risk of getting pulled over and losing any slight time savings that you did accumulate.

Enforcement Varies by State

Another consideration is that speeding enforcement varies by state.

At home, you may be familiar with just how much speeding you can get away with. Maybe 5 MPH is acceptable and doesn’t get you noticed, even though that amount is still speeding.

While this might be something you can get away with at home, that won’t always be the case on a vacation. When you drive to a new state, you’re facing new traffic rules and different law enforcement policies.

You can get a ticket for exceeding the speed limit to any degree, so there’s a chance that you might get one for speeding just a little bit during a road trip. This risk isn’t worth it, so don’t rely on the good nature of police officers to let your minor speeding offence slip by.

Road Trips Are About the Journey

You should also keep in mind that road trips are all about the journey.

Even if you did drive for 500 miles straight to save an hour, what was the point of it all? If you’re blazing through the entire road trip getting to your end destination as quickly as possible, then you’re going to miss out on the whole point of the trip.

Often, road trips are more about the drive than the destination that you eventually arrive at. It gives you a great chance to spend quality time with your family and create fond memories.

Even if sitting in a car isn’t necessarily fun, having your family all together creates a unique bonding experience. Rushing to the end destination will shorten this time and will make the whole trip feel rushed.

Allow yourself to slow down and take time to enjoy the experience! Give yourself time to create a memorable experience.

Speeding Leads to Accidents

One last thing to keep in mind is that speeding leads to accidents.

There’s a good chance that you’ve sped before without causing a car crash. This just means that you’ve been lucky up to this point.

Speeding is highly dangerous because it makes it more difficult to prevent an accident. At higher speeds, it takes you longer to slow down, your handling is impaired, and you’ll have less time to react to situations.

All of this means that speeding makes driving harder. For an activity that requires a high amount of skill and focuses at all times, you don’t need to make it any tougher.

You’re much likelier to be safe and avoid an accident if you stick to the speed limit. Your family’s safety should be your priority and this means refraining from speeding!

Closing Thoughts

When you go on your next family road trip, remember the importance of not speeding during the drive. Speeding is dangerous and there are no benefits to outweigh the significant consequences of getting into an accident.

A few reasons to refrain from speeding include it not saving you time, speeding enforcement varies by state, road trips are about the journey, and it makes you more likely to get into an accident.

These all illustrate that speeding is pointless and does more harm than good! Focus more on letting your family enjoy the scenery and appreciate the precious bonding time during your road trip!

*This is a collaborative post