Nearly half of police forces catch drivers doing more than 90mph on 30mph roads
Nearly half (48%) of UK police forces caught drivers exceeding 90mph on 30mph roads in the 20 months to the end of August last year, an investigation has found.
The RAC, which obtained the figures, said they demonstrate “incredibly dangerous actions” by motorists and called on the Government to use its forthcoming road safety strategy to tackle “avoidable casualties” in crashes involving speeding drivers.
The highest recorded speed on 30mph roads included in the analysis was 122mph in the South Yorkshire Police area.
For 20mph roads, the top speed was logged by North Wales Police at 88mph.
Pedestrians
Roads with 20mph and 30mph limits are more likely to have a higher number of pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable groups, the RAC said.
The fastest speed detected on any road was 167mph on a 70mph stretch of the M1 motorway by Leicestershire Police.
The figures were obtained through Freedom of Information requests to 45 police forces relating to the period from the start of January 2023 to the end of August 2024.
Forty forces provided data.
RAC road safety spokesman Rod Dennis said: “Although this data is a snapshot, it shines a light on the incredibly dangerous actions of a few, that are putting law-abiding road users at serious risk. Thankfully, the police were on hand to catch these drivers.
“There is no place for the vastly excessive speeds that some people are prepared to drive.
“Speed is the leading cause of deaths on UK roads.
“We look forward to the Government’s forthcoming road safety strategy understanding what can be done to reduce such avoidable casualties on the UK’s roads.”
At risk
Chief Constable Jo Shiner, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing, said: “We know that some incidents of going over the speed limit can be genuine mistakes or errors, but the speeds cited here are clearly drivers taking deliberate decisions to travel at excessive speeds, putting everyone at risk.
“Speed limits are set based on many factors, including the road layout, what’s in the surrounding area and taking into account where there might be more vulnerable road users.
“Choosing to drive above those limits is reckless, selfish and completely unacceptable.”
Separate Department for Transport (DfT) statistics show 331 people died in crashes on Britain’s roads in 2023 in which a driver exceeding the speed limit was a contributory factor.
This was at least a 10-year high and represented 21% of all road fatalities.
An RAC survey carried out last year indicated 55% of drivers believe there is a culture among UK road users that it is acceptable to speed, with only 23% disagreeing with this assertion.
‘No excuse’
A DfT spokesman said: “There’s no excuse for those who risk the lives of others through speeding, and there are already tough penalties in place for drivers who speed.
“While our roads are among the safest in the world, we are committed to improving road safety, and recently relaunched our Think! campaign with a focus on speeding, particularly on rural roads.”
– The survey of 2,691 drivers was carried out by research company Online95 between March 23 and April 15 last year.
Here is a breakdown of the highest speeds on 30mph roads:
1. South Yorkshire Police: 122mph
2. Sussex Police: 113mph
3=. Greater Manchester Police: 112mph
3=. West Yorkshire Police: 112mph
5. West Mercia Police: 106mph
6. Lancashire Constabulary: 104mph
7=. Nottinghamshire Police: 103mph
7=. Bedfordshire Police: 103mph
9=. West Midlands Police: 100mph
9=. Police Service of Northern Ireland: 100mph
11. Dorset Police: 97mph
12. Lincolnshire Police: 96mph
13=. Avon and Somerset Police: 93mph
13=. Kent Police: 93mph
13=. Police Scotland: 93mph
16. Leicestershire Police: 92mph
17=. Cambridgeshire Constabulary: 91mph
17=. Durham Constabulary: 91mph
17=. Gwent Police: 91mph
20=. Essex Police: 90mph
20=. Hampshire Constabulary: 90mph
22=. Devon and Cornwall Police: 89mph
22=. Merseyside Police: 89mph
22=. Norfolk Constabulary: 89mph
25. Staffordshire Police: 87mph
26=. Northumbria Police: 85mph
26=. Hertfordshire Constabulary: 85mph
28=. Suffolk Constabulary: 83mph
28=. Warwickshire Police: 83mph
30. Cumbria Police: 78mph
31=. Cheshire Constabulary: 77mph
31=. North Yorkshire Police: 77mph
33. Northamptonshire Police: 76mph
34. Gloucestershire Constabulary: 74mph
35. North Wales Police: 72mph
36. Cleveland Police: 64mph
The figure for Avon and Somerset data is correct up to September 30 2024, not August 31 2024.
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These horrendous speeds are shocking. They need further context as this is NOT your average decent driver doing 36 in a 30 long after the kids have left school etc. These high speeds are the results of criminal activity and police pursuits surely? Let these stats be clarified rather then weaponised by pressure groups to punish ordinary drivers for their minor indiscretions. It would be good to know the punishment too to act as a deterrent – I’d hope some prison time was involved? But we don’t know and aren’t told.
No further context is needed. Being hit at 36mph is more than capable of killing or permanently disabling someone. Please do not make excuses for that kind of unacceptable behaviour.
Context is key to most people. You KNOW there is no harm doing 36 at midnight on a 30 dual carriageway or even on Gabalfa Flyover anytime… This concept that people are being hit whilst looking in shop windows by cars all day long is such a panicked exaggeration. It is incredibly rare to be hit by a car and speed is way down the list of causative factor when driver is to blame too – but its all we ever hear about (highest causations are actually on pedestrian side – but we should protect them as its not a… Read more »
Law breakers will break the law of course: the key piece of information that’s missing here is how many were caught by each force: it could be one driver per jurisdiction for all we know.
Those sort of speeds should warrant an immediate and permanent driving ban. We are far too soft on dangerous driving.
Why do you think they werent banned? Dangerous and reckless driving IS punished strongly & licenses are shredded. Many were probably incarcerated for associated criminal offences.
How ironic. Although this references driving offences throughout Britain not just Wales specific, and closer to home seeing Wrexham recently decided to change roads from 20 mph back to 30 mph after a politically motivated online petition and Welsh Conservative demonisation. And this peice describing how some are recklessly breaking the 30 mph speed limit by driving in excess of 90 mph in built-up areas, proves sadly that some road users lack common sense, are a threat to public safety, who should never be allowed behind the wheel of a car, and why , to coin that old carrot &… Read more »
Interesting to see that Dyfed-Powys are not included in the list. Given by my experience of driver behaviour on the 20MPH section where I live which has high speeds and no enforcement, perhaps speeding is not that high up the D-P police jobs list.
I saw actual referenced footage on lunchtime news – these are pursuits not regular motorists going berserk… More speed limits and more lowering of speed limits do not deter criminals who are being pursued and who have no licence or insurance in most cases anyway. A sniff of the irresistible levering I feared in the first post.