Motorists on UK roads during the spring coronavirus lockdown were significantly more likely than usual to be breaking the speed limit, government data has shown.
The proportion of drivers exceeding the national 60mph speed limit on single-carriageway roads almost doubled from 10% to 17% from April to June this year, while on urban roads about 63% of cars broke the 30mph limit when they could, up from 56% in 2019.
The statistics from the Department for Transport back up anecdotal reports of general speeding, as well as the most egregious offences reported by police during lockdown.
While many car drivers would have experienced quicker journeys with the sharp drop in traffic levels during the first lockdown, the data recorded by automatic roadside counters compares only “free-flowing” vehicles, for example without congestion, speed cameras or other traffic calming measures.
DfT statisticians said speed limit compliance normally rarely varied year on year and it was an “unusual trend”. Motoring organisations said the results were shocking.
The RAC’s head of roads policy, Nicholas Lyes, said: “This data confirms what we previously suspected: lower traffic volumes sadly led to some shocking levels of speed limit disobedience, particularly on 30mph limit roads.
“This dangerous behaviour unnecessarily put lives at risk during the first national lockdown when more people were walking and cycling. Empty roads should not be an excuse to drive dangerously and it would be frightening to think one of the legacies of the lockdown is a complete disregard for speed limits and other road users’ safety.”
Jack Cousens, head of road policy for the AA, said: “It is worrying that more drivers broke the speed limit when there was less traffic on Britain’s streets during the lockdown. Also of great concern was the increase on 30mph roads, given there were more pedestrians and cyclists exercising or avoiding public transport during the first lockdown.”
The 17,000 speeding tickets issued in the first three weeks of lockdown by UK police forces were around 40% of 2019 levels, according to RAC research, while the overall number of cars on the road fluctuated between 23% to 36% of corresponding days a year earlier, according to DfT data.
The RAC found earlier this year that two-thirds of the forces had also caught drivers doing more than 100mph, including on A-roads, with one driver clocked at more than double the motorway limit at 163mph on the M1 in London.
