The speeding hotspot where one driver was clocked at 152mph
More than 13,000 motorists snapped by one camera alone
An investigation has revealed Kent’s speeding hotspots – with some motorists caught driving as fast as 152mph.
Nineteen drivers were clocked at 130mph and above last year alone – every one of them in north and west Kent, either on the M25 or M20.
Figures sourced by our sister website KentOnline show the fastest speed captured was 152mph – more than double the 70mph limit – on the M25 anti-clockwise near Clackett Lane Services last April.
The camera in question caught the highest number of speeding drivers in 2021, with 13,248 motorists fined.
Kent’s second most prolific speed camera is on the A282 at the approach to the Dartford Tunnel, which helped catch 12,553 speeding road users last year.
In third place is a camera on the M20 coastbound between junctions 8 for Maidstone and 9 for Ashford, which clocked more than 4,700.
In total, the county’s 20 busiest speed cameras were responsible for fining almost 58,000 drivers last year, bringing in a combined income of more than £1.24 million.
The figures were obtained via a Freedom of Information request submitted to Kent Police by KentOnline.
The Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership (KMSCP) says cameras are “not placed on roads where they will make the most money”.
Instead, they are located where there is a history of people being killed or badly hurt in speed-related crashes.
On the A2 St Michael’s Road at Sittingbourne there were 15 crashes involving someone being killed or seriously injured (KSIs) before a speed camera was installed in 2002.
In the 20 years since, there have been eight.
The story is similar on the A227 Wrotham Road in Gravesend, where KSIs have fallen from nine to just one since a camera was installed in 2000.
KMSCP spokesman Tara O’Shea said: “Our most successful sites are the ones that produce zero offences.
“It is not our aim to catch offenders – it’s to educate them.
“We do not work covertly. All of our camera sites are shown on a map and are signed nearby, and the fixed cameras are painted bright yellow, so are very hard to miss.
“Publicity has brought an awareness to the work we do and has seen an increase in
public acceptability of safety cameras.
“It is the fear of detection from cameras that is a welcome deterrent for drivers.”
In 2013, during thick fog, a huge pile-up on the A249 Sheppey crossing saw 130 vehicles crash and many people injured although there were thankfully no fatalities.
KMSCP observed a large proportion of drivers travelling at high speed over the crossing, and so in 2017 it installed average speed cameras.
“After camera installation,
compliance of the higher speed limit was excellent and higher speeds reduced to nearly zero,” said Mrs O’Shea.
She added that highway authorities review crash data annually, to gauge whether cameras are correctly placed or new ones are needed.
“As such, two new cameras are due to go live this month on the A26 Tonbridge Road, Hadlow,” she said.
The KMSCP operates 74 speed cameras across Kent, outside of its motorways, and marks its 20th anniversary this month.
Comprising Kent and Medway councils, National Highways and Kent Police, it was formed with the aim of reducing death and serious injury on the county’s roads.
“The success of the partnership is not measured by how many tickets have been generated, but by the reduction in casualties at the sites where enforcement takes place,” Mrs O’Shea added.
“Since 2002, there has been a reduction in killed and serious injury crashes at these sites by 54%.”