Drivers caught at up to 114mph on 30mph roads, RAC data reveals

The analysis, covering 33 police force areas, found 271,341 drivers caught doing at least 40mph in 30mph zones. A further 32,548 drivers were caught doing 30mph or more in 20mph zones, based on data from 28 forces.

Among the most extreme cases: a driver clocked at 89mph on a 20mph stretch of the B5129 in Deeside, north Wales, and another recorded at 114mph on a 30mph road in Aylestone, Leicestershire, close to a primary school, though the offence took place overnight.

Daytime speeds on 20mph roads included 64mph in Halifax, West Yorkshire, at around 10.45am, 60mph in Southport, and 48mph in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, at approximately 3pm. Higher speeds were recorded overnight elsewhere, including 72mph in Holland Park, London, and 68mph on the B3122 in south Bristol.

On 30mph roads, speeds of 95mph were logged in both Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, and on the A5 near Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. A driver was caught at 80mph near schools in Culcheth, Cheshire, at around 3pm, and another at 79mph in Barrow-in-Furness shortly after 4pm.

The highest overall speeds recorded, 161mph, came from forces monitoring the A5 in Bayston Hill, Shropshire, and the M6 southbound between Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford.

Official government figures for 2024 show speed was a contributing factor in 58 per cent of fatal collisions, with drivers or riders exceeding the limit involved in a fifth of all such crashes. That year, 185 people died in collisions where breaking the speed limit played a role.

Previous RAC research found four in five drivers say they regularly witness excessive speeding on 20mph and 30mph roads, and 55 per cent believe the UK has a “culture of speeding.” Separate polling last autumn found 86 per cent of drivers support new measures to tackle excessive speeding, with 55 per cent strongly in favour.

RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said the figures showed “the frankly chilling speeds some people are prepared to drive at,” adding that the fact some were recorded in residential areas, including near schools, during daytime hours “underlines just how dangerous this kind of behaviour is.”

National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing, Chief Constable Jo Shiner, said: “The fact that a majority of drivers now believe there is a culture where speeding is acceptable reflects a deeply embedded issue in driver behaviour. We must reset expectations and make it clear that safe, lawful driving is a shared responsibility.”

The RAC has used the findings to renew its call for the introduction of Intervening Intelligent Speed Assistance (IISA), an aftermarket technology that limits throttle input to keep a vehicle within the speed limit and can only be overridden in limited, monitored circumstances. This goes further than the Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) systems the government has proposed mandating in new vehicles sold in Great Britain, which only advise drivers of a limit breach and can be overridden at will.

The RAC is backing the Stop Excessive Speeders campaign’s call for IISA to be introduced as a mandatory judicial intervention, coordinated with the DVLA, for drivers who persistently and dangerously exceed speed limits despite other interventions. Under the proposal, IISA would be a condition of retaining or regaining a licence, funded by the motorist, with subsidies available for low-income drivers.

The RAC and the Stop Excessive Speeders campaign are calling for a legislated IISA pilot programme for Great Britain, with equivalent provision for Northern Ireland, to build the evidence base for wider rollout as a judicial measure targeting repeat and serious offenders.

The findings follow the government’s Road Safety Strategy, published in January — the first such strategy in over a decade — which set a target to cut deaths and serious injuries on the roads by 65 per cent by 2035.