British motorists don't know their limits
British motorists do not know the legal speed limits on UK roads when tested and are paying heavily for their ignorance.
Research from LV= car insurance reveals that seven in 10 (71%) motorists cannot name the speed limit on a rural road, single carriageway, dual carriageway, motorway or a road in a built up area. When shown photographs of different roads, 33% could not correctly identify the 60mph speed limit for a single carriageway and 52% did not know the speed limit on a rural road without street lights.
Since 2009, nearly one in 10 (9%) drivers have been caught speeding and 17% of these have been caught two or three times. A freedom of information request by LV= car insurance showed that the number of motorists caught speeding increased last year with the total number of offences up by 6% compared with 2010 figures.
On average, drivers are caught exceeding the speed limit by 8.5mph but a small minority (4%) have been caught speeding by as much as 20mph or more over the limit, putting themselves and other road users at danger. Police data shows that the average speed at which drivers are caught speeding is increasing, with offending speeders driving 2mph faster in 2011 than in the previous year (54mph in 2010 versus 56mph in 2011).
While the majority of speeding motorists are caught exceeding the speed limit by just a few mph, there are some who have been caught driving at breakneck speeds that would be more appropriate on a Formula One track. In 2011, Sussex Police caught Britain's fastest speeder driving at 152mph, while another was caught by the Tayside Police driving at 149mph and the Thames Valley Police caught someone driving at 142mph. These speeds, while extreme, are actually faster than those recorded in the previous year, when the fastest speeder was caught driving at 144mph by the Avon & Somerset Police in 2010.
Although we may be driving faster, the findings also show that speeding motorists are more likely to be caught by the authorities. In the past year, the number caught breaking the speed limit rose to 1.5 million (4.2% of motorists last year), notching up 2.2 million penalty points and a £41 million bill in the process.
Yet British motorists are unlikely to start putting their foot on the brake. Close to a third (30%) believe that the 70mph speed limit is too slow and a further 64% welcome the planned speed limit rise to 80mph. Currently around four in 10 (41%) drivers say they routinely break the current 70mph limit when they think they can get away with it. Government proposals to increase speeding fines from £60 to as much as £100 to compensate victims of crime are not welcomed by drivers. Many (40%) see the increase as an unfair tax and a similar number (42%) say it doesn't seem fair to penalise drivers for other people's crimes.
John O'Roarke, managing director of LV= car insurance, said "It is alarming that so many motorists cannot correctly identify the legal speed limit on UK roads when tested. If a driver is caught exceeding the limit by just a few mph, they can still be fined and given penalty points. The police data shows that more speeding motorists are being caught each year and drivers should take care to know their limits to avoid a fine, penalty points or worse."