New Analysis Reveals Speeding Rise During Summer Months

Drivers are continuing to be caught travelling at dangerously excessive speeds on Britain's roads, with new analysis from the RAC revealing that the majority of police forces recorded motorists driving at least twice the speed limit on 30mph roads last year.

The findings, based on Freedom of Information requests submitted to police forces across the UK, uncovered numerous examples of extreme speeding, including one motorist travelling at 114mph in a 30mph zone in Aylestone, Leicestershire. In another case, a driver was recorded at 89mph on a 20mph road in Deeside, North Wales.

Across the 33 police forces that supplied data, 271,341 motorists were caught driving at 40mph or above in 30mph zones, while 32,548 drivers were detected exceeding 30mph in 20mph limits across 28 force areas.

The data also highlights a series of alarming offences on lower-speed roads. Drivers were recorded travelling at 95mph in 30mph zones in both Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, and near Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire. Elsewhere, speeds of 80mph were detected close to schools in Culcheth, Cheshire, while another driver reached 79mph in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Even higher speeds were recorded overnight, including 111mph on the A3400 in Hockley Heath and 109mph on the B6145 in Bradford.

The fastest speeds identified by police last year were 161mph, with two separate motorists recorded travelling at that speed on the A5 in Shropshire and on the southbound M6 between Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford. Other cases included speeds of 160mph on the M6 in Cheshire, 158mph on the A14 in Suffolk and 155mph on the A38 Sutton Coldfield bypass.

Government road casualty statistics for 2024, the latest available, show that speeding remains a major contributor to fatal collisions. Drivers or riders exceeding the speed limit were a factor in 58% of fatal crashes, while speeding itself contributed to 20% of all fatal collisions, resulting in 185 deaths during the year.

According to the RAC, serious speeding incidents are most common during the summer months and towards the end of the week, particularly on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Separate RAC research suggests speeding is becoming increasingly normalised, with four in five motorists saying they regularly witness drivers exceeding limits on 20mph and 30mph roads, while 55% believe there is now a culture of speeding in the UK.

The organisation has welcomed elements of the Government's Road Safety Strategy, including plans to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on UK roads by 65% by 2035. However, it believes further action is needed to address persistent and extreme speeding offences, particularly among repeat offenders and those driving at dangerous speeds on residential roads.

Rod Dennis, senior policy officer at the RAC, 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.”