Drivers facing £100 fine for breaking speed limit by 1mph

MOTORISTS face being fined £100 for driving just 1mph above the speed limit under new toughened rules to clamp down on dangerous driving, it was reported.

Police chiefs are reviewing the current “buffer zone”, which shields drivers from punishment if they travel too fast. The zone is calculated by increasing the speed limit by 10 per cent plus 2mph, before they face punishment.

This means in a 30mph speed zone, motorists can drive at 34mph without risk of being penalised. Anyone caught travelling marginally above the buffer zone are allowed to take a speed awareness course, while repeat offenders face a £100 fine and three penalty points.

But according to The Mail on Sunday, Chief Constable Anthony Bangham, the national roads policing chief, is in favour of adopting a new zerotolerance approach.

In a paper on roads policing presented to the Chief Constables’ Council in April, Mr Bangham told how fatalities increased by four per cent back in 2016 after years of decline and admitted the police’s approach “appears to be failing”. He said: “The existing speed enforcement guidance could in fact be encouraging driving at these more dangerous high speeds rather than the actual speed limits.”

Road safety charity Brake said it was “fully supportive” of Mr Bangham’s approach. But the AA said people could become distracted by constantly monitoring their speed. According to The Mail on Sunday, latest Home Office figures show there were 2.1 million speeding offences dealt with by fines or courts in England and Wales in 2016, up from 1.6million in 2011, generating an estimated £100million in income.