About
Speed Awareness Day

In 2016, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police (ILACP) founded Illinois Speed Awareness Day. Speed Awareness Day was a combined statewide effort involving public and private stakeholders partnering to address the issue of excessive speeding on Illinois roadways and the deadly impact speeding has on traffic safety.

The initiative was suspended with the onset of COVID19 and was reinstated in 2022 as a NHTSA Region 5, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin enforcement effort.

For 2023, Speed Awareness Day will expand to NHTSA Region 7 states of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

The ILACP goal is to build and coordinate a High Visibility Enforcement (HVE) program to include public and private partnerships to address the issues of excessive speeding. By combining efforts, a common goal can be achieved: reduce crashes, prevent injuries and more importantly – save lives through proactive enforcement and public awareness.

SPEED is one of the leading contributory causes of all types of crashes involving a motor vehicle. Speeding is not limited to exceeding the posted limit for a specific roadway, it also includes driving too fast for weather/road/traffic conditions. National trends suggest more drivers are operating motor vehicles with less regard for speed limits and surrounding traffic conditions. This type of driving behavior and attitude has resulted in high crash numbers, increased injuries and fatalities. SPEED also impacts the severity of the crash, type and extent of the injuries and the number of fatalities.