114mph in a 30mph zone: Britain’s worst speeding cases revealed
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New figures reveal the staggering speeds some motorists are reaching on Britain’s roads, including in residential areas and near schools.
A driver clocked at 89mph in a 20mph zone and another caught doing 114mph on a 30mph road are the most shocking examples of speeding uncovered by new RAC analysis.
Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to police forces across the UK revealed hundreds of thousands of motorists were caught driving well above the speed limit last year, with many of the worst offences taking place on roads used daily by pedestrians, cyclists and families.
The most alarming case saw a motorist recorded travelling at 114mph on a 30mph road in Aylestone, Leicestershire, close to a primary school. Although the offence happened in the middle of the night, the RAC said it shows the “chilling” speeds some drivers are willing to reach.
In another case, the RAC analysis found a driver was caught at 89mph on a 20mph stretch of the B5129 in Deeside, North Wales.
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The data also revealed several examples of drivers travelling at extreme speeds in daylight hours on roads where people could have been walking or cycling.
Among them were:
- 64mph in a 20mph zone in Halifax at around 10.45am
- 95mph in a 30mph zone in Burnham-on-Sea at around 3pm
- 80mph close to schools in Culcheth, Cheshire, during the afternoon
- 79mph on a 30mph road in Barrow-in-Furness shortly after 4pm
Even higher speeds were recorded overnight, including 111mph on a 30mph road in Hockley Heath, the West Midlands, and 109mph on a 30mph road in Bradford.
Across 33 police force areas, 271,341 drivers were caught travelling at 40mph or more in 30mph limits during the last year, the RAC found. Meanwhile, 28 police forces recorded 32,548 drivers travelling at 30mph or more in 20mph zones.
The highest speeds recorded anywhere in the country were even more staggering. Police caught motorists travelling at 161mph on the A5 in Shropshire and on the M6 between Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford. Other drivers were recorded at 160mph, 158mph and 155mph on major roads across England.
Rod Dennis, the RAC’s senior policy officer, said the cases showed “some of the frankly chilling speeds some people are prepared to drive at”, adding that offences committed in residential areas and near schools during the day were particularly disturbing.
He said many of the roads involved would have been used by pedestrians and cyclists, making the potential consequences “unthinkable”.
The RAC said these shocking figures highlight the need for tougher action against the country’s worst speeders.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Dennis added. “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.”
Speed was a factor in 58% of fatal collisions in Great Britain in 2024, while drivers exceeding the speed limit contributed to one in five fatal crashes, according to the latest official road casualty figures. In total, 185 people lost their lives in collisions where breaking the speed limit played a role.
The RAC is backing a campaign called Stop Excessive Speeders and is urging the Government to introduce Intervening Intelligent Speed Assistance (IISA) technology, which can automatically prevent vehicles from exceeding the speed limit, particularly for repeat offenders.
Chief constable Jo Shiner, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing, said the belief that speeding has become socially acceptable reflected “a deeply embedded issue in driver behaviour” and called for expectations around safe and lawful driving to be reset.
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