More than 300 drivers were caught speeding on the M1 every day last year, with the majority opting for speed awareness courses costing around £100.
Speed cameras on the M1 caught a record 140,000 motorists last year, earning them £14 million in fines.
Every day, more than 300 drivers are stopped for speeding on the motorway. The majority of those caught choose to take a speed awareness course, which costs around £100, or face a £100 fine and penalty points. Police figures for the last three years show that nearly 340,000 drivers have been stopped.
The maximum speed recorded was 169mph, but the driver avoided being fined because the number plate was unclear. A camera between junctions 39 and 40, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, caught the highest number of motorists in the last three years, at 30,000.
But almost as many cars were stopped at Woodall Services in South Yorks, between junctions 33 and 34 near Sheffield and at Watford Gap Services in Northants. The figures were provided by the eight police forces that monitor cameras on the M1.
In 2022, 115,000 speeding drivers were caught, compared with 84,000 in 2021 when Covid had hit the figures. Two BMW drivers, caught at 158mph and 153mph, were among those prosecuted. And former Conservative immigration minister and Newark MP Robert Jenrick was also fined £1,100 for driving through roadworks at 40mph at 68mph.
Hugh Bladon, of the Alliance of British Drivers, said: “With variable speed limits on motorways it can be something of a lottery. Sometimes, for perfectly reasonable reasons, the limit is reduced, but drivers seem reluctant to bring it back to the appropriate speed limit once the event has passed. Drivers sometimes focus on the messages on the gantries rather than staying vigilant.”
