Over half of all GB car drivers speed in residential areas

More than half of Britain’s car drivers are exceeding the speed limit, according to official figures released today from The Department for Transport.

The data reveals that on roads in built-up areas, with a 30 mph speed limit 54% of motorists, on average, are breaking the law.

On motorways it is 50% and this drops to 9% on single carriageways (60 mph limit for cars).  However, only 12% of motorway car drivers exceeded the speed limit by more than 10mph on motorways. This dropped to 6% for 30mph roads and 1% for single carriageways.

The data also shows an 88% conviction rate (175,000 motorists were found guilty) in England and Wales for speed offences. Speeding offences made up 28% of all motoring offences and nearly 1,400,000 drivers attended a speed awareness course in 2019.

The figures are based on driver behaviour – in 2019 – on roads with free flowing traffic where there are no impediments such as bends or steep climbs.

Responding to the new data, Greg Wilson, founder and CEO of the car insurance comparison platform Quotezone.co.uk, says: “Even though the research shows many car drivers break the speed limit by small margins, if penalised, the cost to your insurance premium can be significant and may even increase year on year – especially if you are a repeat offender.

“The most important thing is to be honest and fully disclose the offence to your insurance provider – failure to do so can result in the policy being invalidated, meaning you aren’t covered for any further incidents on the road.  Another option would be to switch to a car in a lower insurance group to try and bring the costs down.

“My advice would be shop around, insurers view penalty points differently, our comparison platform searches over 110 UK car insurance providers – some even specialise in convicted drivers.”

If caught speeding, offenders should expect three points on their driving licences and a minimum £100 speeding ticket although it could be more depending on the offence committed.

A Speed Awareness course can be an option, instead of penalty points, depending on the speed of the offence.  Penalty points stay on licenses and must be declared for 4 years. If a drivers have 6 or more points the rise in the premium can be significant.

Consumer Intelligence’s data suggests average premium increase across all speeding offences clocks in at £50, offences on motorways average around £100 – added onto the premium every year until the penalty is spent.