But what is the most popular speed limit zone drivers are caught breaking?
According to new data, more than 1,000 motorists are caught speeding every day in the UK.
Direct Line Insurance found that almost 1.25 million speeding incidents were recorded by the police between 2015 and 2017, which equates to a driver being caught by traffic police or snapped by a speed camera every 75 seconds!
But what is the most popular speed limit zone to be caught breaking in the UK?
Figures were separated into the various speed limit zones to determine which one motorists are most likely to get caught breaking.
It turns out that 61% of ALL speeding offences over the last two years were recorded in 30mph zones, with 50mph following in second for 14% of cases and 40mph close behind on 13%.
What’s more surprising, is that the chance of being caught for speeding on the motorway is much less, as one in 12 (8%) of speeding incidents were recorded in 70mph zones.
However, motorway speeding fines are likely to increase in 2018, with a push to introduce more ‘Smart’ motorways up and down the country with variable speed limits and more use of cameras, particularly average speed cameras.The insurance provider gained their figures via a Freedom of Information Act, in which 35 out of the 45 UK police forces provided data. This date was collected during the period when laws regarding speeding fines were changed in the UK.
From April this year, drivers caught speeding can receive anything from a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) and three penalty points for minor offences, to disqualification and costs totalling 150% of an offender’s weekly salary for those exceeding the limit by a large amount.
Speed awareness courses are still offered to motorists for minor offences but only if the offending driver has no previous speeding convictions, or haven’t already attended such a course over the past three years.
New statistics suggest that drivers caught speeding in 40mph zones managed to clock up the highest excess speed – with police forces recording an average speed of 61.4mph!
“Speeding can kill, but people still drive far too fast on Britain’s roads, even in areas specially designated as lower limits because of the risk to pedestrians,” said Rob Miles, director of car insurance at Direct Line.
What the insurance provider did notice, is that the total number of speeding incidents recorded between 2015 and 2016 fell year-on-year, dropping by 5% from almost 470,000 to 447,000.
The biggest reduction was in the number of drivers caught breaking the speed limit in 50mph zones (15%), followed by 30mph zones (9%). There was however, an increase in the number of drivers caught speeding in 60mph (40%) and 70mph zones (56%).
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