Exclusive figures reveal how common speeding is on our motorways
Thousands of drivers were caught at hight speeds(Image: PA Wire/PA Images)
Over 2,500 drivers have been caught speeding at over 70mph on motorways and other main roads across the West Midlands over recent months.
The motorists were captured going above the UK’s motorway national speed limit of 70mph.
Speeding details were revealed following a freedom of information request to West Midlands Police.
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And it revealed some examples of extreme and dangerous speeding on our roads between October and the end of April.
Three drivers were recorded doing over 130mph, the fastest speeds recorded over that period.
Another seven were clocked between 120 and 130mph.
In total, there were 42 vehicles spotted doing over 100mph and another 173 between 90 and 99mph.
In most cases these were likely to have happened on motorways.
The data also provided evidence of how regularly the 70mph national speed limit is ignored.
A huge 1,395 drivers were caught by cameras or police officers doing 80-89mph and another 1,321 between 70 and 79mph.
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Someone is over the motorway national speed limit once they are doing 70mph.
Motorway speed limits may sometimes be lower than this when temporary limits are in place at times of congestion and incidents. Motorists are most commonly caught out at lower speeds though, on 30mph roads. A whopping 68,000 were clocked between 30 and 39mph.
While almost 110,000 speeding motorists were recorded overall during the period, not all of them will have resulted in speeding tickets.
Our investigations have previously shown many speeding cases actually end being cancelled for numerous reasons.
Added to that, speeding enforcement in the UK is a postcode lottery.
More speeding tickets are issued in Warwickshire than the West Midlands Police force area, despite Warwickshire having a much lower population.