"It's absolutely horrifying, you have no control over a vehicle at 185km/h. Then there is the risk to others on the road as well."
She said passengers needed to think about their own safety before getting into the car.
"One of the questions we get young drivers to think about is, when they get in that car, is the driver going to be able to keep you safe?
"That's something we are trying hard to get them to consider because it's their lives at risk too."
Roadsafe Hawke's Bay and the police recently held the Hawke's Bay Youth Alcohol Expo which aimed to pass on safety messages targeting young and first-time drivers.
"So this latest incident makes me anxious," Ms Anderson said. "But it will also just make us all the more determined to keep doing our work."
Over the next month RoadSafe Hawke's Bay would be planning its programme for the 2012/13 year and combating speed on roads was likely to feature.
"Our road safety programme is determined by crash statistics," Ms Anderson said. "New Zealand Transport Agency provides us with briefing notes that direct regional road safety issues but they are also reactive to certain local problems.
"Currently we have eight people killed on rural roads around the rural Hastings/Wairoa area. We will be looking at the rural sector and we can work together to raise awareness of the risk, that will be one of our top priorities."
NZTA's report on road safety in the Hastings district said travelling too fast was a factor in 16 per cent of injury crashes for the five years to 2010.
Speed had resulted in 19 deaths, 64 serious injuries and 219 minor injuries over the five-year period.
Speed as a factor in crashes was lower compared to similar authorities, however numbers were still high in the district, the report said.
Speeding fines increased progressively from $30 for speeds less than 10km/h over the limit, to $630 for speeds up to 50km/h over the limit. In addition to a fine, speeding drivers would also incur demerit points.
If speed was more than 50km/h over the limit, a driver could be charged with careless, dangerous or reckless driving, and at more than 40km/h above the speed limit a driver could also receive a 28-day licence suspension.