While distracted driving is commonly considered the leading factor in serious motor vehicle accidents, a strong argument can be made for speeding or reckless driving. To make up lost time, drivers tend to throw caution to the wind and ignore all posted safety signs and speed limits. In so doing, they become dangerous to others on city streets, highways or county roads.

Drivers might choose to go faster, weave through traffic or take unsafe shortcuts while behind the wheel. However, how many of these actions lead to a time savings? Or, in fact, are drivers simply turning a safe road into a danger zone?

A recent paper collected data from more than 100 drivers and uncovered some shocking information.

Researchers sought to use empirical data to challenge the commonly held belief that speeding can benefit a driver. Investigators at the Institute of Transportational and Logistics Studies at the University of Sydney collected data from 106 drivers over a period of five weeks. The math was staggering.

The average driver saves 26 seconds per day, or 2 minutes per week, by speeding.

More importantly, the researchers compared this time savings against the number of catastrophic and fatal accidents.

The cost of these time savings is one fatality for every 24,450 hours saved and one injury for every 2,458 hours saved.

Speeding, unfortunately, is only the root cause of an accident. Drivers who are speeding are typically operating the vehicle in an unsafe manner. Speeders can fail to recognize stopped traffic, fail to react to changing weather conditions or slide through an intersection.

No matter the type of vehicle you are driving or the road surface on which you are traveling, a speeding driver is more unsafe than they realize. Typically, drivers who would never drive drunk or send a text while behind the wheel will find traveling at 5, 10 or even 20 miles per hour over the speed limit perfectly acceptable. If you were injured in a vehicle accident is wise to discuss your specific situation with an experienced lawyer who can provide legal guidance.