Why do drivers break the speed limit

The responses of over 9000 drivers attending speed awareness courses after committing speeding offences in the UK were examined. 29% of drivers were not concentrating totally on their driving at the time of the offence. 90% indicated that annoyance had little effect on their speeding offence and 96% indicated that enjoyment of speed was not a factor. 67% indicated that there was little time pressure at the time of their speeding offence. Those who broke the speed limit by a large margin were more focussed on their driving, more likely to have been enjoying the speed and more likely tohave been under time pressure when they were caught. Those under time pressure were more likely to have been driving for work. A series of logisticregressions was carried out to determine if the factor operating at the time of the offence could predict accident involvement. Drivers' ratings ofthe importance of tiredness, level of attention, level of annoyance and enjoying speed at the time of the offence all predicted their accident involvement. For the covering abstract see ITRD E157496