Vehicle speed compliance statistics for Great Britain: 2022

24 August 2023

Half (50%) of car drivers broke the speed limit on 30mph roads compared to 45% on motorways and 11% on national speed limit single carriageway roads,  new speed compliance data from the Department for Transport (DfT) shows.

Overall, speed limit compliance in 2022 was slightly higher than 2021, where lower levels of compliance may be partly attributed to the impact of the pandemic on lower traffic levels.

However, vehicle speed limit compliance in 2022 has remained broadly similar when compared to vehicle speed limit compliance levels between 2011 and 2019, these years were not affected by the pandemic.

Car and motorcycle speed limit compliance levels tended to be highest on national speed limit single carriageways and lowest on 30mph roads.

The top reason for exceeding the speed limit on motorways was “I drive according to the speed of other road users”, which was cited by 42% of motorway users. On 20mph roads, users’ top reason for exceeding the speed limit was “speed limit being inappropriate for the road”, which was cited by 47% of 20mph road users.

In 2021, for all collisions, 4% (4,980) of vehicles had an exceeding the speed limit contributory factor allocated to them. This percentage increased from 2014 until 2020, before decreasing slightly in 2021.