“Why were you speeding?”: A self-confrontation study on awareness and reasons for speed behaviour

• Participants were confronted with their own speed behaviour. • Most regular drivers have a good latent awareness of their speed. • Exceeding the speed limit by 10 % is considered normal and safe by most participants. • As drivers easily justify speeding post-hoc, this may limit effective feedback interventions. • Addressing speeding at a systemic level is essential to prevent its normalisation. Despite extensive prevention, speeding remains a major contributor to traffic casualties. Understanding drivers’ perceived awareness and the subjective reasons for their speed behaviour could improve intervention strategies, and specifically inform the potential of speed feedback. A self-confrontation study was conducted in which 25 regular drivers recorded one of their drives using GoPro cameras, capturing both the road view and their speed, and selected video excerpts were later discussed with these participants. The study explored participants’ awareness and reasons for their speed behaviour, as well as general attitudes towards speeding, perceptions of its problematic nature, the acceptability of exceeding speed limits, and decision-making in speed choice. This study design aimed to provide an objective basis for the interviews and reduce recall biases. The results revealed that drivers show a latent awareness of their speeding behaviour, which they most often justified as usual, normal and safe. This general tolerance towards speeding suggests the normalisation of speed violations. As a result, individual safety interventions, such as feedback on driving behaviour, may not be effective. Prevention efforts should focus on changing norms, common beliefs and systemic factors regarding speeding.