Warwickshire Police is urging motorists to slow down and obey speed limits in a campaign that aims to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on the county’s roads.

In Warwickshire, between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2019, 91 people were killed and 659 seriously injured in collisions where speed or loss of control was recorded as a contributory factor.

This is even more concerning as nationally 49% of speeding offences were committed in areas with designated 30mph speed limits, potentially putting the lives of pedestrians including children at risk. 

Inspector Kirsty Clough said “Speed limits are there to protect the public. The speed limit is a maximum not a target and driving too fast or at a speed inappropriate for the road environment or conditions means that drivers have less time to identify and react to what is happening around them.

“The driver’s safety margin is removed and near misses can easily turn into collisions because vehicles driven at speed take longer to stop.”

Officers will be tackling irresponsible and dangerous drivers by focussing their attention on high risk routes in Warwickshire to target those drivers who are committing speeding offences.

Many speeding offences are dealt with by fixed roadside speed cameras and an independent national review of more than 4,000 safety cameras over a four year period showed that cameras significantly reduced speeding and commissions and cut deaths and serious injuries at camera sites by 42%.  (Source: The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents – Fact Sheet June2018)

Roadside cameras play an important part role in reducing the numbers killed and seriously injured on Warwickshire’s roads.

In a two week period in August 2019, 183 speeding offences were detected by officers.  However 3672 speeding offences were detected by roadside speed cameras and speed enforcement camera van.

Speeding drivers who are eligible for and accept a conditional offer of a fixed penalty receive 3 penalty points and £100 fine. Fines are collected by Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunal Service and go directly to the Treasury.

Excessive high speed offences will not get a conditional offer and will be prosecuted via the courts.

You could be disqualified from driving if you build up 12 or more penalty points within a period of 3 years. New drivers who receive 6 or more penalty points within the first two years of driving will have their license revoked.

Those drivers who admit the offence of speeding and are eligible may be offered the opportunity to attend a speed awareness course on the effects and dangers of speeding as an alternative to a speeding fine and penalty points.

The course aims to influence the attitudes and behaviour of drivers by directly challenging attitudes towards speeding, offering motorists insight, awareness and understanding about their speed choices, and helps equip participants to change their behaviour.

The course is not a way to avoid fines however, you can only attend one speed awareness course every three years.

Warwickshire Police also offer a National Motorway Awareness Course and if this is offered only one can be attended every three years.

Throughout the campaign police officers, PCSO’s, special constables and community speed watch volunteers across Warwickshire will be out and about in local communities taking part in a mixture of enforcement and educational initiatives.

Warwickshire Police is working closely with partners including Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service, West Midlands Ambulance Service, Warwickshire County Council, Highways England, and national campaigners including BRAKE to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on the county’s roads.

Statistics

Nationally during the two week speed enforcement campaign that took place in August 2019:-

• 62135 speeding offences were detected
• 93% of offences were detected via automatic intervention (speed cameras)
• 7% of offences were detected via officer intervention
• 64% of offenders were male and 74% of offenders were over the age of 25
• 49% of offences were committed in areas with 30mph speed limits
• 83% of offences were committed in cars
• 54% of people received penalties, 8% received a warning, 36% took an educational course and 2% were summonsed to court

In Warwickshire during the two week speed enforcement campaign that took place in August 2019:-

• 183 speeding offences were detected by officers
• 3672 speeding offences were detected by roadside speed cameras or speed enforcement camera van
• 144 people received verbal warnings
• 1263 people received fixed penalty notices / traffic offence reports.

Around two-thirds of collisions in which people are killed or injured occur on roads with a speed limit of 30mph or less.  At 30mph, vehicles are travelling at 44 feet (about 3 car lengths) each second.  Even in good conditions, the difference in stopping distance between 30mph and 35mph is an extra 21 feet or 6.4 metres, more than 2 car lengths. (Source: Road Safety Fact Sheet – April 2018)