What's wrong with speeding, anyway? Aren't Illinois speed limits just another example of the government trying to spoil our fun? Not quite. Speeding can actually be quite dangerous. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeding plays a role in approximately 25% of deadly car crashes nationwide. Speeding is dangerous for two reasons:

• It increases the stopping distance of your vehicle. The faster you are going, the longer the distance that your car is going to travel in the 1-2 seconds it takes for you to go from merely thinking about hitting the brakes to actually doing it. Speeding also increases the length of highway that your car will travel after you hit the brakes but before it comes to a stop.

• Speeding also increases the amount of force released in an accident. The more force that's released, the more serious the accident becomes.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, in 2002, 530 of Illinois' 1,411 traffic fatalities were caused by speeding. Slow down!