In the spring and autumn of 2024, the insurance company Folksam carried out a total of 14,520 speed measurements of professional traffic in seven different areas of Sweden.
The result?
Professional drivers drive too fast. Very often.
41 per cent of all measured professional vehicles exceeded the speed limit, and over 50 per cent drove too fast on 30- and 40-kilometre roads. Outside schools, 47 per cent drove too fast.
Setting the pace
This is the first time we are measuring across the whole of Sweden. The reason we are looking at this is that companies have the opportunity to control the speed of their employees. Professional traffic accounts for a large part of total traffic and sets the pace for the rest of the traffic, says Anders Kullgren, research manager at Folksam.
We see that there is lowest compliance with speed limits where the permitted speed is lower, and that is serious because there is the greatest risk of hitting unprotected road users. It is more serious to drive too fast on a 30-kilometre road than on a 110-kilometre road.
Policy issues
The worst speed offenders are found in the taxi industry. More than 52 per cent of the measured taxis exceeded the speed limits. Security companies, small transport companies, and transport companies also drive too fast.
The bus industry showed the lowest percentage of violations with 32 per cent.
Actually, this is a work environment issue, says Kullgren and continues:
You have to take it seriously. Set up policies and rules, what happens if you don't follow the law. Policy issues, 'this is how we expect employees in the company to drive', are about not breaking rules and laws regarding speed, seatbelts, driving and rest times.
This year's measurements show that 41 per cent of all measured professional vehicles drove too fast, in 16 per cent of the cases the violation was more than 10 kilometres per hour over the speed limit.
The average violation was 5.5 kilometres per hour.
Outside schools, 47 per cent of the measured vehicles drove too fast.
The taxi industry had the highest percentage of violations, with more than 52 per cent of the measured taxis exceeding the speed limit.
In total, Folksam carried out 14,520 speed measurements.
Source: Folksam
