UK’s fastest driver caught at 167mph: speeding epidemic on Britain’s roads revealed

13 February 2025 , 20:13

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UK’s fastest driver caught at 167mph: speeding epidemic on Britain’s roads revealed

Freedom of Information Act disclosures reveal the extent of the speeding issue on Britain’s roads, with nearly half of UK police forces recording drivers reaching 90mph on 30mph roads.

Britain’s fastest driver has been busted after clocking the "highest recorded speed" on any road in the UK.

Almost half of Britain’s police forces say they have caught drivers hitting 90mph on 30mph roads in the 20 months before August 2024. Ninety per cent of forces detected motorists reaching speeds of 60mph, with nearly half recording drivers going three times as fast as the 30mph speed limit.

The highest speed recorded in any UK region was 167mph on a 70mph part of the M1 in Leicestershire, while South Yorkshire Police logged a driver hitting 122mph on a 30mph road. For a 20mph road, North Wales Police recorded someone going at 88mph. Somerset saw the largest gulf between the recorded speed and the legal speed limit, which was 161mph in a 50mph zone.

The data was released after the RAC issued Freedom of Information Act requests to 45 of the UK’s police forces asking for information about speeding between January 2023 and the end of August 2024. Forty of them complied.

The 10 highest speeds on 30mph roads are as follows...

South Yorkshire Police: 122mph

Sussex Police: 113mph

Greater Manchester Police: 112mph

West Yorkshire Police: 112mph

West Mercia Police: 106mph

Lancashire Constabulary: 104mph

Nottinghamshire Police: 103mph

Bedfordshire Police: 103mph

West Midlands Police: 100mph

Police Service of Northern Ireland: 100mph

Rod Dennis, the spokesperson for RAC’s road safety department, told the BBC : "Although this data is a snapshot, it shines a light on the incredibly dangerous actions of a few, that are putting law-abiding road users at serious risk. Thankfully, the police were on hand to catch these drivers."

National Police Chiefs’ Council leads for roads policing, Chief Constable Jo Shiner, said the findings showed that some Brits have a "reckless, selfish and completely unacceptable" approach to road safety.

"We know that some incidents of going over the speed limit can be genuine mistakes or errors, but the speeds cited here are clearly drivers taking deliberate decisions to travel at excessive speeds, putting everyone at risk," she said.

Speed is the main factor behind collisions that lead to fatalities, government data shows. An estimated 888 fatalities were caused by speeding in 2023.

James Turner