Northamptonshire Police support national campaign against speeding

From Monday, Northamptonshire Police will be taking part in the National Policing Chiefs’ Council’s annual three-week campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of speeding.

Exceeding the speed limit was one of the top four main contributory factors in road traffic collisions on Northamptonshire’s roads network last year and so far, this year more than 45,000 speeding offences have been detected in the county.

This has once again prompted officers from Northamptonshire Police to publicly plea to all road users to use the county’s routes legally and responsibly by simply slowing down and helping to get everyone home safely.

For the three week campaign, The first week focuses on educating motorists on the consequences of driving over the speed limit, followed by a further two weeks of enforcement when anyone stopped faces further action including the possibility of points being added to their licence or banned from driving.

Just a few miles per hour over the limit can increase the chances of being involved in a fatal or serious collision and this campaign aims to reduce the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on the UK’s roads.

Between January and September this year, Northamptonshire has detected a total 45,400 speeding offences, of which 13,739 were on Northamptonshire’s stretch of the M1 motorway and 31,661 on other routes across the county.

The top excessive speed recorded in a national limit was 150mph on the A43 Corby Northern Orbital Bypass – more than twice the 70mph limit – whilst a 32-year-old man of Daventry was disqualified for four months after being caught travelling at 71mph in a 30mph residential street in Northampton.

Last year in Northamptonshire, 29 people were killed and a further 280 seriously injured on the county’s road network – which is why Northamptonshire Police is committed to reducing of fatalities and serious injuries on our roads.

Safer Roads Operations Manager, Matt O’Connell said: “It’s easy to criticise campaigns such as this as being motivated by ticket numbers or revenue, however we are not going to apologise for policing our roads when the consequences of speeding can have a devastating impact on so many lives.

“Despite what people may believe, we would much rather everyone get home safely, rather than face prosecution for needlessly putting both themselves and other innocent road users lives’ at risk just to save a few minutes on a journey.

“Speeding kills – it is as simple as that. So, despite all the campaigns and warnings about speeding, it’s very disappointing to see that thousands of road users still choose to drive at excess or inappropriate speeds.”