A 1MPH decrease in ‘speed tolerance’ by police could result in a 259% increase in penalties
07 November 2022
Before May 14 2019, police guidelines issued by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) suggested that drivers could get away with exceeding the limit by ten per cent plus 3MPH (for example, in a 20MPH zone you could drive 25MPH without being fined).
These guidelines were updated on May 14 2019 and the tolerance was reduced by 1MPH, meaning that drivers could potentially get away with exceeding the limit by ten per cent plus 2MPH.
A report by This is Money found that the 1MPH difference could result in a 259 per cent increase in the number of drivers penalised for speeding, with more than 347,000 drivers potentially to be issued warnings of prosecution for breaking speed limits between January and June 2022 in comparison with 97,000 before the change.
For obvious reasons, this ‘speed tolerance’ has not been advertised by The Metropolitan Police, who instead commented, “Posted speed limits are the maximum speed that road users should travel at any time irrespective of the speed threshold that police commence enforcement action.”
The NPCC has also said that it intends to review its police guidelines, meaning that the 10 per cent plus 2MPH formula should not be relied upon by motorists breaking the speed limit.
AA president Edmund King said that this could lead to more drivers using intelligent speed limiters (if the technology is fitted in their vehicle), which help to prevent speeding by sounding an alarm when drivers are exceeding the speed limit, or restricting fuel to slow down the vehicle.
He said, “If drivers struggle with the limits, most modern cars have speed limiters and often sat navs will flag up speed warnings. It is not worth chancing your licence or indeed a potential road collision by relying on unwritten levels of tolerance.”
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