Calls for speeding crackdown after driver caught doing 149 mph on M25
The Institute of Advanced Motorists says the message that speeding kills is 'not getting through'
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Your support makes all the difference.There’s doing 33 in a 30, and there’s doing 149 mph on the M25.
That was the staggering speed a driver was caught on camera doing in Swanley, Kent, making it the fastest car recorded by police in England and Wales since April 2013.
Most commercially available cars intended for ordinary drivers cannot reach anywhere near the speed but some high-end vehicles are capable of topping 150 mph.
The figures were revealed by police authorities following freedom of information requests by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM).
Simon Best, the organisation’s chief executive, said: “149 miles per hour equates to nearly two and a half miles in a minute.
“If anything goes wrong at that speed, you’re unlikely to walk away and you are a grave danger to the innocent road users around you.
“Speed limits are a limit. They are not a target to beat.”
The maximum speed limit on any UK road is 70 mph but the reckless motorist was not the only one pushing way beyond the legal boundaries.
One driver was clocked doing 96 mph in the B1288 in Gateshead – 60 miles over the limit.
In Stanstead Abbotts, Hertfordshire, a car was caught at 119 mph on a 50 mph road and where the limit with 10 mph faster in Wendover, a driver did 127 mph.
All offences can be punished in court by a driving ban, suspension or licence points.
The IAM believes the message about speeding has “not got through” and the group wants it to become as socially unacceptable as drink driving.
It is calling for sustained campaigning by the government, motor industry and charities to remind people that speeding kills.
Mr Best said court sentencing guidelines were outdated and did not match modern roads and cars.
He added: “We all share the roads with these speeding drivers and the government must crack down on them with more consistent penalties and tougher measures to break their addiction for speed.”
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