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VEHICLE SPEEDS IN GREAT BRITAIN: 2003 

May 20, 2004

The Department for Transport today published National Statistics of vehicle speeds in Great Britain in 2003. These statistics relate to the speeds at which drivers choose to drive in free-flow conditions generally across the road network. The latest figures show that the proportion of motorists exceeding the speed limit in 2003 hardly changed from 2002 although driving in excess of the speed limit remains at a high level on all types of road.

The main features of the new statistics released today are:

On roads with 30 or 40mph limits ("built-up")

• On roads with a 30 mph speed limit, 58 per cent of cars exceeded that limit in 2003 compared with 59 per cent in 2002; 25 per cent travelled faster than 35 mph, the same as in 2002. On 40 mph roads 27 per cent of cars exceeded the limit, with 10 per cent exceeding 45 mph, the same percentages as observed in 2002.

• On 30 mph roads, 29 per cent of motorcycles were travelling at more than 35 mph compared with 24 per cent in 2002. On 40 mph roads 19 per were travelling at more than 45 mph compared with 22 per cent in 2002.

• The survey also reveals a high incidence of speeding by heavy goods vehicles on built-up 30 mph roads: 53 per cent of 2-axle heavy goods vehicles exceeded the speed limit, 21 per cent by more than 5 mph.

On other roads (non-built-up)

• The proportion of cars exceeding the speed limit on motorways, which averaged 55 per cent between 1998 and 2002, rose to 57 per cent in 2003. The proportion travelling faster than 80 mph also rose slightly, from about 18 per cent between 1998 and 2002 to 20 per cent in 2003.

• The proportion of motorcycles travelling at more than 80 mph on motorways increased from 27 per cent in 2002 to 28 per cent in 2003; on dual carriageways the proportion fell from 26 per cent to 23 per cent.

• On major, non-built-up single carriageway roads, 74 per cent of articulated HGVs were exceeding their 40 mph limit (23 per cent by more than 10 mph). The average speed recorded for articulated HGVs on these roads was 45 mph, just 3 mph less than the average speed of cars (48 mph), for which the limit is 60 mph.

Explanatory Notes

    1.    For non-British readers who don't use the phrase "built-up", it can be translated as "urban".

    2.   Outside built-up areas, the normal speed limits currently in force are as follows: -

    3.   None of the survey sites in built-up areas were subject to a speed limit lower than 30 mph.

Source: DfT News Release (TR-014 (061)) issued by the Government News Network on 20 May 2004