Summer months see speeding spike as police find drivers doubling limit on 30mph roads – RAC

Official data from the UK Department for Transport for 2024 – the latest year data is available – showed that speed was a factor in most (58%) fatal collisions, with drivers or riders exceeding the speed limit behind a fifth (20%) of all such collisions.

In the same year, 185 people lost their lives where breaking the speed limit played a role.

RAC said such collisions were most likely to take place in the summer months and on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Previous RAC research found that four in five drivers said they regularly see people driving at higher speeds on 20mph and 30mph roads, while 55% said they believed there is a culture of speeding in the UK.

Separate research last Autumn found that 86% of drivers polled supported measures to combat excessive speeding, of which 55% strongly support action.

The RAC recently responded to several Government consultations following the publication in January of the Road Safety Strategy, the first in over a decade.

It welcomed commitments to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the roads by 65% by 2035, and the acknowledgement that excessive speeding should not go unchallenged.

However, the RAC said it believes clear focus must now be placed on tackling those drivers that represent the biggest risk on the roads, including those that are prepared to drive at such high speeds – especially on low (20/30mph) roads – and those that habitually reoffend.

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.

“There is a lot of work to be done.

“Despite drivers and riders exceeding speed limits being a factor in an increasing number of fatal road collisions, it’s clear that some people remain oblivious to the incredibly severe risk that driving too fast poses.

“The latest official data shows there were more than 300 fatal collisions in just one year where speeding was a factor – tragedies which are, on the whole, entirely avoidable given speeding is a choice the driver makes.

“We very much look forward to the Government’s response to its consultations on the Road Safety Strategy.

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

“Together with the Stop Excessive Speeders campaign, we therefore strongly urge the Government to introduce Intervening Intelligent Speed Assistance technology – which can prevent a vehicle from exceeding the limit – to reduce the number of drivers on our roads that puts all of us at risk.”

Jo Shiner, chief constable at the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing, 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.”