Half of car drivers still speeding on 30mph roads

The statistics from the Department of Transport (DfT) for 2006 also showed that 54% of drivers went over the legal speed limit on motorways of 70mph, with 17% actually exceeding 80mph.

These figures were down only slightly on 2005 - 50% speeding on 30mph roads and 56% on motorways. However, the DfT was eager to point out that the number of drivers speeding in built-up areas had fallen by almost a quarter over the past ten years.

A DfT spokesperson said: "The number of vehicles breaking the speed limit on 40mph roads has remained consistent over the last five years, apart from last year when the figure dropped slightly.

"Speed limits are there for a reason and overall these figures show that this message is getting through. The number of people speeding on motorways has gone down by 2% since last year and there has been a 23% fall in drivers exceeding the 30mph limit over the last decade.

"With more than 32 million vehicles on UK roads this represents a significant reduction. As with any statistics, we will of course use these figures to pinpoint areas where there is work left to do."

Altering speed?

In 2006, a total of 28% of car drivers exceeded the speed limit on 40mph built-up roads - an increase of 4% on the 2005 level.

The "safest" driving last year was on single carriageway roads with a speed limit of 60mph, where only 11% of cars were driven over the limit.

On major, non-built-up single carriageway roads, 76% of articulated heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) exceeded the 40mph limit, 28% by more than 10mph. The average speed recorded for articulated HGVs on these roads in 2006 was 46mph, just 2mph less than the average speed of cars (48mph), for which the limit on these roads is 60mph.

The survey also showed a high incidence of speeding by HGVs on 30mph roads in 2006, with 44% of 2-axle HGVs exceeding the speed limit, 15% by more than 5mph. This compares with 46% and 18% respectively in 2005.

The percentage of motorcyclists who exceeded the speed limit was similar to that of car drivers. However, the percentage of motorcycles travelling at more than 10mph above the speed limit on all road types was higher.

Twenty five per cent of motorcyclists travelled at 80 mph or more on motorways compared with 17% of car drivers.

Paul Smith, founder of the anti-speed camera group Safe Speed said the figures showed Britons were still "speeding in huge numbers despite about 15 years of speed cameras".