Speeding In The UK Is About To Get Really Expensive And Most People Have No Idea

Speeding is one of the most divisive issues in the car world. We probably all do it, whether it’s driving at 25mph in a 20mph limit or 80mph on a 70mph motorway. But while the punishments used to be a minor slap on the wrist until you got caught too many times, a new system is about to come into force. Let’s just say it’s rather unfriendly when it comes to your relationship with your wallet.

The system is changing, raising the maximum possible fine from 100 per cent of your weekly wages to 150 per cent, and in numbers that equates to maximums of £1000 on A- and B-roads, plus urban streets, and £2500 on the motorway. While creeping over the limit won’t net you a bigger punishment than before, going a bit bonkers could see you really getting stung.

A study by Honest John suggests that 84 per cent of people don’t know what this all means, or that it comes into force in a few days on 24 April. Effectively, as of then, the courts will be able to ask for proof of your weekly take-home pay and charge you up to 150 per cent of it. Ouch. To get into that mess you have to have been doing 41mph or more in a 20mph zone, 51mph or more in a 30mph area or, at the top end, 101mph or more on a 70mph road. Below that level of excess, the punishments stay the same.

But is this just a big, steaming pile of bull? Given that the speed limits in the UK were set back when staying at 70mph for too long might actually result in a breakdown, and when for many cars even getting to 70mph at all was a mission, why are we saying that we’re no safer than 60 years ago? In many towns speed limits have actually been lowered, from 30mph to 20mph.

The counterpoint to this is how much busier the roads are these days. If you lose control, the chances of you hitting other people are much higher than they were in the 1960s, and cars are heavier now, making them more dangerous when they’re pinballing around a carriageway. On the other hand, there’s simply no comparison between the protection offered by a modern car and the non-existent impact absorption of a 60-year-old family car.

There are also a lot more semi-autonomous safety features today, like cruise control, autonomous emergency braking and even systems that can swerve to avoid a crash. Surely that’s enough to offset a higher speed limit? Frankly, I reckon the limits on motorways should have risen, if nothing else.

The really annoying thing is that people like us tend not to be to blame. We love our cars, we love driving and we respect the roads because we know what can happen if we get things badly wrong, but at the same time we’re also more attentive than the average driver, more in tune with our cars and more capable of gathering-up a minor loss of control without panicking. We don’t deserve to be treated like naughty kids if we choose to go a bit faster than the limit.

I know of some pretty stupid 20mph zones where nothing goes on and 40mph feels fine. I also know some 60mph roads where I daren’t go past 30mph because they’re narrow and perpetually blind. How does that happen? Who knows. What we do know is that if you like to put the hammer down, you could be in for a shock when the fine comes through.