Express & Star

More than 12,700 speeding drivers caught in West Midlands

More than 12,700 drivers have been caught floating speed limits along roads in the region.

Published
Last updated
The Express & Star has launched a campaign to bring tougher penalties to speeding drivers

The speeding motorists had their licences endorsed after they were spotted breaking the law in the West Midlands.

A total of 88 drivers were caught driving faster than 91mph in a 70mph zone, figures have revealed.

The data, released after a Freedom of Information request to West Midlands Police, disclosed 12,726 people were caught speeding in 2016.

It meant police recorded 1,393 more speeding offences than the previous year.

More drivers were caught floating speed limits in 30mph zones, with 8,160 seeing their licences endorsed.

But just two people ignored 20mph speed limits in 2016, with one driver racing along the road at speeds of at least 41mph.

A total of 4,170 drivers were found speeding along the region's 40mph roads, with 210 caught exceeding 61mph.

The minimum penalty for speeding is a £100 fine and three penalty points on a driver's licence.

Police said 191 drivers defied 50mph zones, while a total of 83 drivers contravened 60mph speed limits across the West Midlands.

Motorists can be handed driving bans if they build up 12 or more penalty points within three years.

The Express & Star has launched a campaign urging the Government to bring in tougher penalties for killer drivers.

The Ministry of Justice wants to extend the maximum penalty for death by dangerous driving from 14 years in jail to a life imprisonment.

Our campaign came after two people - Craig Edwards and Kade Scrivens- were each jailed for eight years for killing their victims of Black Country roads.

Edwards, 29, of Cumberland Road, Walsall, was speeding and over the drink-drive limit when he killed grandfather John Hickinbottom in Walsall last June.

Scrivens, 24, of Booth Street, Handsworth, was jailed for killing 59-year-old Nicholas Harrison in Darlaston last November.

A petition supporting the campaign can be signed at www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-killer-drivers-should-have-stiffer-sentences.