The most common driving offence in the UK is currently speeding. It contributes to around 6% of all injury collisions reported to the police, 15% of crashes resulting in a serious injury and 26% of collisions that result in a death, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).
Together with commercial vans retailers, Van Monster, we take a look at the areas of the UK which experience the most speeding offences. How does your region rank?
Where do most of the speeding offences occur?
UK Carline submitted a Freedom of Information request to discover more about speeding offences across the UK in 2017.
General Manager at UK Carline, Jonathan Nolan, discussed their findings: “Our research has certainly produced some eye-opening insight into the UK’s driving habits, with some worryingly fast speeds being clocked by speed cameras up and down the country over the last few years.
“We hope the stats will make people think twice next time they consider speeding, particularly in more residential areas. Drivers should always stay safe on the roads by never exceeding the speed limits.”
It appeared as though West Yorkshire is the region with the most speeding offences in the UK. Throughout 2017, police forces issued 142,610 speeding tickets to drivers exceeding the legal speed limit, more than double the tickets issued than the regions in second and third place. The fastest speed recorded in the region was 160mph in a 70mph zone – 90mph above the legal speed limit! Further worrying figures for West Yorkshire reveals that the highest speed recorded in a 30mph zone was 102mph – more than three times the legal speed limit!
Results also showed that Surrey held second place for the most speeding tickets issued (62,623), with West Mercia in third place with 62,503. Whilst Kent is ranked as number six, it still takes joint second place with Surrey for the fastest speeds clocked in a 70mph zone, with speeds reaching 150mph — more than double the legal speed limit.
The table below shows the amount of speeding tickets issued in 2017 against each region. Where does your region stand?
| Rank | Region | No. of speeding tickets issues (2017) |
| 1 | West Yorkshire | 142,610 |
| 2 | Surrey | 62,623 |
| 3 | West Mercia | 62,503 |
| 4 | Dundee | 60,465 |
| 5 | North Wales | 57,224 |
| 6 | Kent | 53,590 |
| 7 | Lancashire | 51,455 |
| 8 | Humberside | 49,982 |
| 9 | Norfolk | 49,730 |
| 10 | Dorset | 45,344 |
Unruly driving
It’s disconcerting how many drivers are willing to break the law when on the roads. Despite rising awareness of harsh penalties, many drivers believe they can get away with it. In a report by the AA, the organisation shed light on the top ten driving offences that drivers thought they could get away with. Taking the top spot, 65% thought they could get away with careless driving. Secondly, 55% thought they could get away with driving a vehicle in a dangerous condition and in third, 54% thought they could get away with driving whilst using a handheld mobile phone.
Statistics show that offences are not going unrecorded. Between 2015 and 2016, there were over 2.4 million driving offences recording throughout the UK. The north-west of England were branded as the worst region for drink driving offences, with over 12,344 offences reported – it was also the worst region for drug driving with 629 offences.
One survey, carried out by Vantage Leasing, found that 50% of drivers have gathered at least three points on their licence. In fact, nearly a quarter (23%) were found to have six points. Considering the above speeding data, you won’t be surprised to find out that 84% of drivers had acquired their points on their license as a result of speeding.
Hazardous roads
As speeding is found to be the most common offence on the roads, should we expect a correlation between speeding and road traffic accidents?
In the government’s annual Road Safety report in 2016, areas with the most road traffic accidents were reported. When analysing the figures, the West Midlands appears to be the most dangerous region with a total of 37,153 casualties throughout the five-year period leading up to 2016. West Yorkshire, the region which was highlighted to be the UK’s speeding hotspot, ranked number three in terms of danger levels, with 36,597 casualties in the same time period. The Department of Transport reported a 6% increase in the number of casualties on our roads.
In the report, the South of the UK was found to have the majority of road accidents. West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Lancashire were found to be the top three most dangerous places to drive in the north of England. In fact, five of the top ten most dangerous counties were located in the north of the UK. Kinross-shire in Scotland was branded home to the most dangerous drivers in the UK, however, on the other hand Scotland was also named the safest area to drive in, with Dumfries and Galloway having the fewest casualties in the whole of the UK.
It might be hard to believe when you take into account the above, but the UK remains to be one of the safest countries to drive around in Europe. When comparing the number of road deaths across countries in Europe, only Sweden had a lower rate than the UK. And when it comes to the global scale, the UK is ranked number 10 for the safest place to drive in the world. This could have something to do with the 92% of drivers that class themselves as a ‘good driver’. Maybe it’s time that we worked to improve the driving habits of the remaining 8% to make our roads safer once and for all.
Sources
https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/fleet-industry-news/2018/01/16/uk-s-speeding-hotspots-revealed-in-carline-survey
https://www.rospa.com/rospaweb/docs/advice-services/road-safety/drivers/inappropriate-speed.pdf
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/790615/car-crash-UK-accidents-most-dangerous-roads-revealed
https://www.expertmarket.co.uk/focus/dangerous-uk-drivers
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3253011/most-dangerous-roads-in-britain-revealed-but-how-safe-is-your-area/
http://www.theaa.com/about-us/newsroom/driving-offence-enforcement
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-4256242/Worst-drivers-UK-revealed-region.html
https://www.aol.co.uk/cars/2018/03/02/the-uks-best-and-worst-drivers-revealed/
