Speed shock: Motorists caught doing 90mph in a 30mph
Thu, 20 Feb 2025
Nearly half of UK police forces have caught motorists driving at more than three times the speed limit, shocking new figures reveal.
In a Freedom of Information request, 48% of police forces said they’d caught motorists travelling at more than 90mph on 30mph roads.
9 in 10 of them had also caught people driving at more than twice the limit on 30mph roads.
The RAC research found that the highest recorded speed was 167mph on a 70mph stretch of the M1 by Leicestershire Police.
Alarmingly, the largest difference between the posted limit and the speed recorded was a driver travelling at 161mph on a 50mph stretch of the A303 in Somerset.
Nearly 6 in 10 police forces had recorded drivers travelling at more than 140mph.
Motorists aren’t simply restricting three-figure speeds to motorways and A-roads, either. South Yorkshire Police recorded a speed of 122mph on a 30mph road.
North Wales Police spotted a driver travelling at 88mph on a 20mph road. Both are more than four times the posted speed limit.
"We know that some incidents of going over the speed limit can be genuine mistakes," says National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing Chief Constable Jo Shiner.
"But the speeds cited here are clearly drivers taking deliberate decisions to travel at excessive speeds, putting everyone at risk."
Speed limits, she explained, are based on numerous factors, including road layout, what’s in the surrounding area and where there might be more vulnerable road users. It may not always be obvious why a particular speed limit is chosen.
"Choosing to drive above those speed limits is reckless, selfish and completely unacceptable."
"Although this data is a snapshot, it shines a light on the incredibly dangerous actions of a few," says RAC road safety spokesperson Rod Dennis. "There is no place for the vastly excessive speeds that some people are prepared to drive."
The RAC explains that while some speeds will have been recorded in the middle of the night, when traffic will have been lighter, this isn’t always the case and some of the fastest drivers were clocked at other times of the day, when they’d have been sharing the roads with many others.
Speed remains the biggest factor reported in fatal road collisions. In 2023, speed contributed to 888 fatalities and nearly 40,000 collisions of all severities.
Is it right that I got a speeding fine for 35mph in a 30mph limit?
