Older drivers more likely to get slapped with speeding fines as 101-year-old handed ticket for breaking limit

Older drivers more likely to get slapped with speeding fines as 101-year-old handed ticket for breaking limit

WATCH: Suella Braverman discuss speeding

GB NEWS
Hemma Visavadia

By Hemma Visavadia


Published: 27/02/2024

- 13:55

'Blanket limit serves no useful purpose and is anti-motorist and counter intuitive'

Older drivers are more likely to break the speed limit in certain parts of the country as more councils and local authorities introduce slower restrictions on roads.

In the majority of speeding cases for 20mph, 30mph and 40mph zones, the drivers were roughly 57 years old, according to the data captured between 2018 and 2023.


According to data collected in a Freedom of Information request from Avon and Somerset Police, the lowest speed which received a fine was 26mph while the highest speed breach was 159mph.

The penalty for speeding in the UK is a £100 fine and up to three penalty points added to a driving licence.

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Police officer pulling over a driver for speeding

One in every four cars registered in London received a speeding fine for breaking the 20mph limits

GETTY

A representative for Avon and Somerset Police explained: "We don’t want to detect people speeding, we want people to obey the speed limits in place.

"Our focus is on prevention rather than cure and we want to remind motorists that the ‘fatal five’ – which includes excess speed, as well as drink or drug driving, careless driving, using a mobile phone at the wheel and failing to wear a seatbelt – dramatically increases the likelihood of being involved in a fatal or serious injury collision."

The UK has been trying to crack down on speeding with the rollout of 20mph zones across Wales and plans for similar rules in Scotland.

In the capital, the Mayor of London’s 20mph speed limit zones were rolled out across 28km of roads within the boroughs of Camden, Islington, Hackney, Haringey and Tower Hamlets from March 31 last year.

A recent report by the Times found that almost one in every four cars registered in London received a speeding fine for breaking the 20mph limits across the capital in the past six years.

Roughly 595,000 tickets were issued to drivers by the Metropolitan Police since 2018, equivalent to 85 per cent of the 700,000 fines handed out across the country during the period.

Nick Freeman, who is known on social media as Mr Loophole, is a lawyer who specialises in motoring cases and has criticised slower speed limits being rolled out.

He tweeted: “25 per cent of drivers falling foul of 20mph limit demonstrates what a foul speed limit it is.

“Blanket limit serves no useful purpose and is anti-motorist and counter intuitive.”


20mph zones in Wales have been hit with a lot of suppression from drivers who are angered with the rollout of zones across the whole country.

Posting in the social media group “20 is not plenty”, thousands of angry residents rallied together to share their frustration with the 20mph zones in place.

One user said: “Setting stupid limits is not conducive to road safety for it promotes a culture of ignoring limits.

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20mph speeding zone

The penalty for speeding in the UK is a £100 fine

PA

Social media posts suggest that drivers have been ignoring the speed limit changes, despite information campaigns set out by the Government, Transport for Wales and road safety organisations.

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