North Wales driver caught at 89mph in 20mph zone as RAC warns over ‘chilling’ speeds

Nation.Cymru staff/agencies

A driver clocked at 89mph on a 20mph road in north Wales was among tens of thousands of motorists caught driving at least 50% above the speed limit last year, new figures show.

The RAC investigation found more than 30,000 motorists across the UK were caught driving at 30mph or more in 20mph zones during 2025.

The figures come as Wales continues to operate its default 20mph speed limit on restricted roads, with the motoring organisation warning that some drivers are travelling at “frankly chilling speeds”.

Freedom of Information requests sent to police forces across the UK found that 32,548 motorists were caught driving at least 30mph on 20mph roads by 28 forces which supplied comparable data.

Across 33 police forces, 271,341 motorists were caught driving at 40mph or more in 30mph limits.

The fastest speed recorded by police last year was 161mph, with motorists caught on the A5 at Bayston Hill in Shropshire and on the southbound M6 between Stoke and Stafford.

Wales introduced a default 20mph speed limit on restricted roads in 2023. Similar schemes have since been adopted by dozens of local authorities in England, while the Scottish Government has committed to introducing the limit where appropriate.

However, the policy has proved controversial. Location technology company TomTom recently blamed the widespread use of 20mph limits for London becoming the world’s slowest capital city to drive in.

The latest Department for Transport figures show speed was a contributory factor in 58% of fatal crashes on Britain’s roads in 2024.

The UK Government’s road safety strategy, published in January, includes a target of reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured in road crashes by 65% by 2035, alongside updated guidance for councils on setting local speed limits.

Last week, a driver who reached 167mph while being pursued by police on the A55 near Bangor was sentenced at Mold Crown Court.

Daniel Tunstead, 35, of Mond Road, Widnes, was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and banned from driving for three years after admitting dangerous driving, drug-driving and driving without insurance.

Dangerous

RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said: “Our analysis shows some of the frankly chilling speeds some people are prepared to drive at – and these are just the cases the police are aware of.

“The fact that some were recorded in residential areas, even near schools, in daytime hours when others might well have been using the roads underlines just how dangerous this kind of behaviour is.

“Such roads will almost certainly be well-used by pedestrians and cyclists, so it doesn’t bear thinking about what travelling at such high speeds could have led to.

“New casualty reduction targets and an update to councils on setting local speeds are welcome, but a greater focus on tackling the problem of excessive speeding and repeat offending is also desperately needed.”

Mr Dennis also called for the Government to give courts the power to require the most dangerous speeding offenders to have intelligent speed assistance technology fitted to their vehicles. The devices actively prevent a vehicle from exceeding the speed limit.