Speeding is now among the most common driving offences seen throughout the UK, being a contributor to around 6% of all injury collisions reported to the police across the nation according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). Their figures also detailed that 15% of these incidents resulted in a serious injury and 26% caused a death.
Is speeding much more of a problem in some parts of the UK than other areas though? To try and find an answer to this question, Van Monster, a retailer of used Sprinter vans from Mercedes-Benz, has led this investigation into the issue…
Hotspots for speeding throughout the UK
UK police forces were required to outline the severity of speeding among motorists within their constituencies throughout 2017 after a Freedom of Information request was submitted by UK Carline. West Yorkshire proved to be the region facing the most severe speeding issue across the UK. Throughout 2017, police forces issued 142,610 speeding tickets to drivers exceeding the legal speed limit, more than double the tickets issued than the regions in second and third place. The fastest speed recorded in the region was 160mph in a 70mph zone – 90mph above the legal speed limit! Further worrying figures for West Yorkshire reveals that the highest speed recorded in a 30mph zone was 102mph – more than three times the legal speed limit!
In second place for the highest number of speeding tickets issued was Surrey (62,623 tickets), closely followed by West Mercia (62,503 tickets) in third spot. To learn more about such cases, just visit their website. Whilst Kent is ranked as number six, it still takes joint second place with Surrey for the fastest speeds clocked in a 70mph zone, with speeds reaching 150mph — more than double the legal speed limit.
Here’s a look at the regions found in the full top ten:
| Rank | Region | No. of speeding tickets issues (2017) |
| 1 | West Yorkshire | 142,610 |
| 2 | Surrey | 62,623 |
| 3 | West Mercia | 62,503 |
| 4 | Dundee | 60,465 |
| 5 | North Wales | 57,224 |
| 6 | Kent | 53,590 |
| 7 | Lancashire | 51,455 |
| 8 | Humberside | 49,982 |
| 9 | Norfolk | 49,730 |
| 10 | Dorset | 45,344 |
Jonathan Nolan, the general manager at UK Carline, reflected: “Our research has certainly produced some eye-opening insight into the UK’s driving habits, with some worryingly fast speeds being clocked by speed cameras up and down the country over the last few years. We hope the stats will make people think twice next time they consider speeding, particularly in more residential areas. Drivers should always stay safe on the roads by never exceeding the speed limits.”
Do speeding hotspots also host the UK’s most dangerous roads?
We are now aware of the UK’s speeding hotspots. However, what are the chances of the same regions appearing when ranking the parts of the country with the most dangerous roads when based on routes with the highest levels of road traffic accidents?
Helping to shed some light on this is the government’s annual Road Safety 2016 report; or more specifically, the UK’s road traffic accident hotspots part of the document. When analysing the figures, the West Midlands appears to be the most dangerous region with a total of 37,153 casualties throughout the five-year period leading up to 2016. West Yorkshire, the region which was highlighted to be the UK’s speeding hotspot, ranked number three in terms of danger levels, with 36,597 casualties in the same time period. The Department of Transport reported a 6% increase in the number of casualties on our roads.
A lot of the accidents detailed in the report occurred throughout the south of the UK. Despite this, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Lancashire were the top three most dangerous places to drive in the north of England. In fact, five of the top ten most dangerous counties were located in the north of the UK. Kinross-shire in Scotland was branded home to the most dangerous drivers in the UK, however, on the other hand Scotland was also named the safest area to drive in with their roads painted appropriately by a surface painting company, with Dumfries and Galloway having the fewest casualties in the whole of the UK.
The rate of road traffic accidents is undoubtedly a problem for the UK, as is the number of dangerous driving incidents recorded across the nation. At the same time though, it must also be stressed that the country is also now one of the safest places to drive throughout all of Europe. I also found a great UK maps web site that makes it easy to find attractions near you, so check that out if you’re in the UK. When comparing the number of road deaths across countries in Europe, only Sweden had a lower rate than the UK. And when it comes to the global scale, the UK is ranked number 10 for the safest place to drive in the world. This could have something to do with the 92% of drivers that class themselves as a ‘good driver’. Maybe it’s time that we worked to improve the driving habits of the remaining 8% to make our roads safer once and for all.
