Speeding identified as riskiest form of aggressive driving: study

Elianna Lev
Close up on a car crashed during an accident with two firemen in background with firetruck during a day of summer
A new study shows that speeding is the number one dangerous driving behaviour that can lead to accidents.

A new study spotlights the dangers of aggressive driving, with speeding being the most problematic and risky behaviour on the roads.

The report out of the University of Waterloo looked over statistics from Ontario and Texas-based insurance companies to find links between collisions and four categories of bad driving behaviours: speeding, hard braking, hard acceleration and hard cornering.

The study assessed 28 million trips, and found that speed was a leading factor for crashes.

“For insurance companies using this telematics data to assess who is a good risk and who isn’t, our suggestion based on the data is to look at speed, at people driving too fast,” Stefan Steiner, a statistics professor in Waterloo’s Faculty of Mathematics, said in a release.

The study then compared information from 28 crashes with data of 20 control vehicles that had not been involved in collisions, but shared other characteristics like geographic location and driving distance.

Those behind the study are confident this could shift gears on how insurance companies charge clients, which in turn could lead to slower drivers. Researchers were also encouraged to share the details on speeding risks, which they hope will lead to safer roads.

“Some of the results are no surprise, but prior to this we had a whole industry based on intuition,” said Allaa (Ella) Hilal, an adjunct professor of electrical and computer engineering, to Global News. “Now it is formulated – we know aggressive driving has an impact.”