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Police force cracks down on rising post-lockdown speeding

A new road safety unit has gone live in Durham Constabulary to tackle rising levels of speeding as lockdown restrictions ease, while also taking action on uninsured drivers.

In the week prior to its launch identified 59 vehicles speeding within just one hour on just one section of road

As traffic levels rise on roads, there have been anecdotal reports of speeding in communities. This has been backed up by work from the new unit, which in the week prior to its launch identified 59 vehicles speeding within just one hour on just one section of road, with the highest recorded speed being 51mph.

In one area near Lanchester, meanwhile, 47 vehicles were found speeding, with the worst offenders travelling at 52mph in a 30mph limit while one road in Darlington a vehicle was also clocked doing 52mph in the 30mph zone.

The new Road Safety Bureau will tackle this through the use of speed cameras at designated sites. It will also clamp down on uninsured drivers and look to educate drivers on other road safety offences such as the use of seatbelts and using mobile phones.

Research published earlier this month found that speeding incidents rose threefold near the start of lockdown as drivers took advantage of unusually low traffic levels and a sense that they would “get away with it”. And the work by AX has found that speeding incidents are still far from pre-lockdown levels and warnings continue over the risks to drivers and fleets.

Terri Raine, bureau manager for Durham Constabulary, said: “This is an important area of activity which we know helps make communities safer and will therefore always be a priority for the constabulary.

“Bad driving can have devastating consequences for everyone involved so we would always encourage drivers to think twice and just slow down.”

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Natalie Middleton

Natalie has worked as a fleet journalist for over 20 years, previously as assistant editor on the former Company Car magazine before joining Fleet World in 2006. Prior to this, she worked on a range of B2B titles, including Insurance Age and Insurance Day.