89mph in a 20mph zone, 114mph in a 30mph: RAC study shines light on excessive speeding

Seven-in-10 police forces caught drivers travelling at twice the speed limit or more on 30mph roads last year, new data analysed by the RAC has found.*

Findings from a Freedom of Information request made to the UK’s police forces show the truly terrifying speeds some people are prepared to drive at that put everybody at risk. One driver was caught at 89mph on a 20mph stretch of the B5129 in Deeside, north Wales; another at 114mph on a 30mph road in Aylestone, Leicestershire – the latter close to a primary school, although luckily the driver was caught in the middle of the night.

Other shocking examples of truly excessive speeds on 20mph roads in the daytime included someone clocked at 64mph at around 10.45am in Halifax, West Yorkshire, a 60mph speed recorded in Southport in Merseyside, and a driver logged at 48mph in Alderley Edge in Cheshire around 3pm. Even faster speeds were recorded in the middle of the night by forces in other parts of the country, including 72mph in Holland Park in London and 68mph on the B3122 in south Bristol.

On 30mph roads, a speed of 95mph was recorded at around 3pm by a driver in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset and by another on a stretch of the A5 east of Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire. Elsewhere, a speeder was clocked at 80mph close to schools in Culcheth, Cheshire at around 3pm, and another at 79mph just after 4pm on a road in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Again, higher speeds still were recorded by other forces on roads at night – such as 111mph on the A3400 in Hockley Heath in the West Midlands, and 109mph on the B6145 in Bradford.

In total, across 33 UK police force areas, 271,341 drivers were caught driving at 40mph or more on 30mph roads – speeds of at least 33% higher than the posted limit – while across 28 forces 32,548 drivers were caught at 30mph or more on 20mph roads.

When it comes to the highest overall speeds last year, vehicles were recorded travelling at 161mph by police forces on the A5 in Bayston Hill, Shropshire and on the M6 southbound between Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford. Other drivers were caught at 160mph on the M6 in Cheshire, 158mph on the A14 in Suffolk and 155mph on the A38 Sutton Coldfield bypass in the West Midlands.

Speed has for a long time been one of the main factors in fatal collisions on Great Britain’s roads. Official data for 2024 – the latest year data is available – shows that speed was a factor in most (58%) fatal collisions, with drivers or riders exceeding the speed limit behind a fifth (20%) of all such collisions.** In the same year, 185 people lost their lives where breaking the speed limit played a role. Such collisions are most likely to take place in the summer months and on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Previous RAC research found that four-in-five drivers said they regularly see people driving at excessive speeds on 20mph and 30mph roads, while 55% said they believe there is a ‘culture of speeding’ in the UK.*** Separate research last Autumn found that 86% of drivers polled support new measures to combat excessive speeding, of which 55% strongly support action.****

The RAC recently responded to several Government consultations following the publication in January of the Road Safety Strategy, the first in over a decade. It has welcomed commitments to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the roads by 65% by 2035, and the acknowledgment that excessive speeding should not go unchallenged. However, the RAC believes clear focus must now be placed on tackling those drivers that represent the biggest risk on the roads, including those that are prepared to drive at such high speeds – especially on low (20/30mph) roads – and those that habitually reoffend.

RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said: “Our analysis shows some of the frankly chilling speeds some people are prepared to drive at – and these are just the cases the police are aware of. The fact that some were recorded in residential areas, even near schools, in daytime hours when others might well have been using the roads, underlines just how dangerous this kind of behaviour is. Such roads will almost certainly be well used by pedestrians and cyclists, so it doesn’t bear thinking about what travelling at such high speeds could have led to.

“There is a lot of work to be done. Despite drivers and riders exceeding speed limits being a factor in an increasing number of fatal road collisions, it’s clear that some people remain oblivious to the incredibly severe risk that driving too fast poses. The latest official data shows there were more than 300 fatal collisions in just one year where speeding was a factor – tragedies which are, on the whole, entirely avoidable given speeding is a choice the driver makes. 

“We very much look forward to the Government’s response to its consultations on the Road Safety Strategy. New casualty reduction targets and an update to councils on setting local speeds are welcome, but a greater focus tackling the problem of excessive speeding and repeat offending is also desperately needed. 

“Together with the Stop Excessive Speeders campaign, we therefore strongly urge the Government to introduce Intervening Intelligent Speed Assistance technology – which can prevent a vehicle from exceeding the limit – to reduce the number of drivers on our roads that puts all of us at risk.”

National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing Chief Constable Jo Shiner said: “The fact that a majority of drivers now believe there is a culture where speeding is acceptable reflects a deeply embedded issue in driver behaviour. We must reset expectations and make it clear that safe, lawful driving is a shared responsibility.”

The case for Intervening Intelligent Speed Assistance (IISA) technology – as made by the RAC in its response to the Government’s Road Safety Strategy consultation

Speeding in the UK is a widespread and persistent problem that continues to drive death, serious injury and wider social and economic harm on a significant scale. In reported road collisions in Great Britain in 2024, 29,467 people were killed or seriously injured, and 128,272 casualties of all severities were recorded. Further, RAC research in October 2025 found that 86% of drivers polled support new measures to combat excessive speeding, of which 55% strongly support action.****

The Government has recently consulted on mandating Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) in new vehicles that in future are sold in Great Britain. Though a welcome addition to road safety, the impact of ISA has a limit as it only advises the driver of a speed limit breach and can be overridden at will. 

Intervening ISA (IISA) is an aftermarket technology that limits throttle input when required to ensure compliance with the speed limit and can only be overridden in limited and monitored circumstances. The RAC is therefore supporting the new Stop Excessive Speeders campaign, and its call for Intervening ISA to be considered for its potential to significantly improve road safety by specifically targeting those most dangerous offenders.

Intervening ISA should be used as a specific mandatory judicial intervention, in coordination with the DVLA, for drivers who persistently and dangerously exceed the speed limit, despite multiple other interventions. Intervening ISA would be used as a condition of retaining or regaining a licence and paid for at the cost of the motorist, with subsidies provided for low-income motorists to ensure they are not excluded on the basis of exceptional financial hardship.

To provide a more robust evidentiary basis for the widespread implementation of intervening ISA, specifically as a judicial intervention for repeat or serious speed offenders, the RAC – together with the Stop Excessive Speeders campaign – supports calls for a legislated intervening ISA pilot programme for Great Britain, with mirrored provision for Northern Ireland. 

^{* Freedom of Information request by the RAC to all 45 UK territorial police forces, with 34 providing data. Data covers the 2025 calendar year}

^{** UK Department for Transport: Reported road collisions and casualties by severity, road safety factors and road user type, Great Britain, 2024}

^{*** RAC Report on Motoring 2025}

^{**** Nationally representative survey of 1,701 drivers surveyed in October 2025}