IIHS Blames Car Ads For Speeding, Ignores The Bigger Safety Problem

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has a new concern that might be affecting you while you’re on your sofa. According to a recent study, automakers are increasingly selling speed, power, traction, and performance while pushing safety further into the background. The organization worries that all those smoky drifts, dramatic corners, and off-road hero shots are helping create a culture that normalizes speeding.

Speed kills. That’s not up for debate. More than 11,000 people died in speed-related crashes in the U.S. in 2024. But while the IIHS may have identified a trend, its conclusions feel a little like blaming exhaust tips for noise while ignoring the engine attached to them. We’ll circle back to that, though.

What The Study Actually Found

Researchers analyzed nearly 3,000 television and digital ads and found performance themes appeared in 42.7 percent of them, while safety showed up in just 8.1 percent. Performance messaging increased substantially over the years studied, and IIHS argues that those ads help reinforce America’s obsession with speed.

Of course, the study openly admits that there is no established causal link between car advertising and how people actually drive. In effect, it’s saying, “This could happen or be happening, so let’s shine some light on it.”

Read: Speed Limits Are Outdated, And We All Know It

That’s all well and good, but it’s also a bit strange since the IIHS itself already knows about something else that heavily (and unquestionably) influences driver behavior: road design. The organization has repeatedly supported Safe System principles and broader roadway changes aimed at reducing dangerous driving. That’s because traffic engineers have known for years that people often drive at the speed a road feels designed for, not necessarily what a sign says.

The Real Reason Americans Drive Fast

And America has spent decades building roads that feel absurdly fast. Wide suburban arterials with huge shoulders, long sightlines, multiple lanes, and almost no visual constraints frequently look less like city streets and more like airport runways. Then officials post a 35-mph sign and seem genuinely surprised when traffic flows at 50. That’s not because somebody saw a Mustang commercial during Sunday football.

IIHS isn’t wrong that speed is dangerous. But if its own philosophy says systems shape behavior, then maybe a six-lane roadway designed like a landing strip deserves at least as much scrutiny (if not more) as a 30-second commercial showing a car taking a corner a little too enthusiastically.

After initial publication, IIHS responded to some questions we had. Research scientist Amber Woods, the lead author on the subject paper, tells Carscoops that “Whether we’re trying to address speed or any other traffic safety concern, changes to roadway design are very effective because they affect everyone on the road. Proven measures to lower speeds like narrowing lanes or adding curb bump outs through turns can naturally slow traffic.

These sorts of changes can be implemented along with other smart policy decisions like lower speed limits and/or automated enforcement in areas where speed is an issue to help improve safety.

Meanwhile, the impact of car commercial content is going to be limited to drivers that have viewed the ad and, whether consciously or not, allow themselves to be influenced by what they see. No matter what they saw on that sports car ad, they are probably going to have to slow down to drive through a roundabout but could speed through a traditional signaled intersection.

In a safe system, one thing is not necessarily more important than another. Rather, they all need to work together and with redundancies in place. Safer roads, safer vehicles, and smart policies can go a long way toward making our transportation system safer, but addressing underlying attitudes and behaviors is also key.

Take impaired driving, for example. Research tells us that a big part of ending impaired driving is addressing the underlying mental health issues that lead to substance use. Similarly, we think addressing our country’s culture of speed is an important part of reducing the thousands of deaths in speed-related crashes that happen each year on our roads.” No doubt, a multipronged approach is the best one to any safety system and the IIHS is clearly willing to look in every direction to find new ways to reduce danger on the roads we all travel.