Photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik
Did you get caught speeding in 2011? There is a chance that a few of you did, since the UK saw a 6% rise in speeding offences last year when compared to 2010. The total shot up from 899,934 to 955,459.
The research comes from insurance company LV and shows that the worst offender was caught doing a scary sounding 152 mph. This happened in Sussex, while the Thames Valley Police collared someone who decided that 149 mp was a reasonable sort of speed to go at.
In fact, the average speed of people who fell foul of the law also increased from 2010 to 2011, going from 54mp to 56mph.
LV then surveyed a little over 1,500 drivers and asked about their speeding offences. It turns out that 9% of the people they asked had been caught speeding since 2009. Of this group 17% of them had been caught at least twice.
What Is the Speed Limit?
Perhaps more worrying is the fact that an incredible 71% of the people surveyed didn’t know the appropriate speed limits for different types of roads. Despite not being aware of the current limits, lots of people think that they are too low. 30% of the drivers responded that 70 mph was too low a limit and 64% are happy to see the proposal to increase it to 80 mph.
So how many of us break the speed limit when we think we can get away with it? The LV survey says 41% of the UK population but I think a few of the people questioned might have been rather coy with their answer. Having said that, 40% of the drivers thought that the government’s idea to increase speeding fines to £100 is unfair, so I have to salute the 1% of people who break the speed limit but who are quite happy to see the fine increased.