Speeding on Motorways Has Reached a Record Low Due to High Fuel Prices and Cameras

So Official government figures out yesterday reveal that the proportion of people that speed on motorways has dropped to a record low,  presumably following a rise in speed cameras and several years of high fuel prices, experts claim. Only 47 per cent of people drive faster than 70mph on motorways in Britain, compared with 57 per cent a decade ago. (please note that these are not my observations from the statistics although there is a link to them at the bottom should you wish to take a look at them for yourself) Apparently the figures only take in to account vehicles in “free flowing” traffic and not those slowed down by congestion (although I dont see how this is either possible to gather or a fair reflection on what actually happend on our roads having spent 7 1/2 hours in traffic myself on what should have been a 1hr 20 round trip to London, anyhow I digress!). The number of ‘extreme’ speeders (traveling above 80mph on motorways) has also dropped from 20pc in 2003 to 12 per cent in 2013. It is also worth noting that the readings are taken from sections of road that do not use speed cameras. (I dont know about you but I treat the whole of the M25 as a camera hot spot even after reports some months back that the overhead gantry cammeras have not been working fo quite some time)

Motoring groups said the decline in speeding over the past decade had coincided with a steady increase in pump prices, suggesting that motorists may have been reducing their speed to conserve fuel and save money. The continued use of speed cameras by police to crack down on speeding may also have played a part.


Ed Morrow, campaigns officer for Brake, the road safety charity, said: “The fact remains that almost half are still breaking the limit, and more than one in ten is doing so by more than 10mph”. Now I actually thought that thats an interesting stat that half of us are still breaking the speed limit, What do you think? tweet using #halfbreaklimit

To read the full story about people driving slower on motorways
Sources: Telegraph, Gov Statistics