Speeding offences exceed the two million mark

In 2011 there were 1.6 million prosecutions for speed limit offences but by 2016 the figures have leapt to 2.1 million, a rise of over 30 per cent.

The Department for Transport (DfT) figures have prompted independent motoring charity IAM RoadSmart to state that speeding is still far from being socially unacceptable.

Neil Greig, IAM RoadSmart director of policy and research, said: “Unfortunately these figures show that we still have a long way to go to make speeding as socially unacceptable as drinking and driving.

“While some of the increase in the volume of speeding offences has been caused by a change in reporting methods – with those attending driver awareness courses which have been shown to reduce re offending now included – there is no doubt that speeding remains a major safety concern.

“Resources are still needed for education and publicity campaigns to drive home the message that road safety is as much about taking personal responsibility as it is about new methods of enforcement.”

Mr Greig added: “IAM RoadSmart calls on all road users to allow themselves a little more time for their journey. Speeding seldom saves much time but adds to stress, wear and tear and emissions.”

The DfT report also revealed that serious offences such as dangerous driving, careless or drink driving have fallen from 276,000 to 179,000 over the last six years.

Policy and research chief Mr Greig added: “This is a welcome fall but we are concerned that this may be more about the reduction in traffic police numbers rather than any fundamental change in driver behaviour.”​

​​The DfT have also recently released wide-ranging statistics about traffic traits. Between October 2016 and September 2017 325.5 billion vehicle miles were travelled, an annual increase of one per cent.