New anti-speeding tech for all UK cars as driver | Tech News

The Government is to put in anti-speeding technology in all new cars as more than 30,000 UK motorists have been caught driving at 30mph or sooner on roads with a 20mph restrict final yr, an investigation has discovered. The figures obtained by the RAC embrace instances of excessive rushing, with a driver clocked at 89mph on a 20mph stretch of the B5129 in Deeside, North Wales, and one other caught doing 114mph on a 30mph street close to a major college in Aylestone, Leicestershire.

The quickest pace recorded by police forces final yr was 161mph, with incidents on each the A5 in Bayston Hill, Shropshire, and the M6 southbound between Stoke and Stafford. The RAC stated the “chilling speeds” some people drive at reveals they “remain oblivious to the incredibly severe risk”.

Freedom of Information requests have been despatched to all UK police forces. Figures from 28 forces which responded with comparable information show 32,548 motorists have been caught at 30mph or more on 20mph roads final yr, which implies they have been driving a minimum of 50% sooner than the legal restrict.

Across 33 forces, some 271,341 motorists have been caught driving at 40mph or more on 30mph roads. Reducing pace limits to 20mph is turning into more and more common throughout the UK and different elements of Europe.

Wales has already adopted a 20mph default in built-up areas and the Scottish Government has dedicated to implementing the identical restrict the place acceptable. Some 62 out of 153 native authorities in England have additionally adopted related insurance policies.

Reducing London’s pace limits has been a key coverage of Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, with more than half the capital’s roads now at 20mph.

However, the widespread implementation has drawn criticism, with location technology company TomTom blaming it for London being the world’s “slowest capital city to drive in”. Latest Department for Transport (DfT) figures show pace was a think about 58% of deadly crashes on Britain’s roads in 2024.

The Government’s street security strategy revealed in January included a goal of lowering the quantity of people killed or critically injured in street crashes by 65% by 2035 and giving councils new steerage on setting limits on their roads. A person was sentenced final week after being caught driving at 167mph whereas being pursued by police on the A55 close to Bangor, North Wales, on February 23.

Daniel Tunstead was handed an eight-month jail sentence suspended for 12 months and a three-year driving ban, at Mold Crown Court. The 35-year-old, of Mond Road, Widnes, admitted harmful driving, drug-driving and driving with out insurance coverage, at a earlier listening to.

RAC senior coverage officer Rod Dennis stated: “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. 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.”

Mr Dennis additionally known as for the Government to offer courts the ability to order essentially the most harmful rushing drivers to have technology fitted to their vehicle that stops them from breaking the restrict again. This would contain mandating the use of intervening clever pace help gadgets, which actively stop a vehicle from exceeding the restrict.

A DfT spokesperson stated: “There’s no excuse for those who choose to speed and put lives at risk.

“While we have no plans to mandate speed control technology, our road safety strategy includes proposals to fit all new cars with systems that warn drivers when they exceed the speed limit.”