M62 driver caught speeding at 151mph during lockdown

TWO-THIRDS OF Britain’s police forces caught people driving in excess of 100mph during the first three weeks of the coronavirus lockdown with the highest speed recorded in Yorkshire, an investigation has found.

Police data obtained by the

RAC revealed that the highest speed was clocked at 151mph on the M62 motorway in West Yorkshire, which was 81mph over the limit. The next fastest recorded speed was 140mph on the A14 in Suffolk.

The other five forces which detected motorists driving at more than 130mph were Northamptonshire,

Gwent, Staffordshire, the Metropolitan Police and Kent.

The RAC’s road safety spokesman, Simon Williams, described the speeds as “truly shocking” and warned that motorists travelling this fast have “virtually no time to react should anything unexpected happen”.

He said: “Some drivers have taken advantage of quieter roads to speed excessively, putting the lives of others at risk at the worst possible time.”

The RAC sent Freedom of Information requests to all forces in Britain. Twenty out of the 30 forces to provide data recorded speeds in excess of 100mph. Across Britain there were 17,363 speeding offences recorded on roads with 30mph limits.

The research showed that a motorist was caught driving at 130mph by Humberside Police, while the South Yorkshire force stopped a driver speeding at 88mph in a 60mph zone. North Yorkshire Police was one of the forces which did not provide data.

Meanwhile, the insurer, Co-op, reported a 50 per cent rise in the number of claims it received relating to collisions involving cyclists between March 20 and May 28 compared with the previous 10-week period.

A spokesman for the firm urged motorists to “give plenty of space to cyclists”.