Background Excessive-speed driving is not distributed uniformly around the United States. Obviously, there are States, jurisdictions, or specific highways where driving at excessive speeds is more prevalent than elsewhere. NHTSA would like to discover the ingredients that contribute to low incident of speeding and high proportion of travel at safe, moderate speeds. Some hypotheses for moderate speed environment include strict enforcement, low speed limits, and dangerous road conditions.

Objectives Identify demographic, geographic, enforcement, public awareness, behavior, perception, and other characteristics of areas where motorists drive at a safe, moderate speed.

Proposed Approach Identify States, areas within States, or specific roadways where 'speeding' and 'non-speeding' were generally observed on urban and rural roadways by analyzing FHWA speed data. Perform a series of analyses of speed limits, travel speeds, State ADT data, speed enforcement activities, population by age group, ethnic and cultural background, speed awareness campaigns to understand drivers' behavioral tendency to speed and not to speed. The evaluation may require 2-3 years, depending on the extent of data collection.