The bulletin, Free flow vehicle speeds in Great Britain 2010, shows that 49% of drivers exceed the 70mph limit, 14% by more than 10mph. The percentage of cars speeding no motorways was greatest between 8 and 9 in the evening. From 2000, speeds on built-up roads over 30mph decreased for every vehicle type.

Official DfT Speed statistics reports

The figures reveal that there has been a drop of about 1,000 in those motorcyclists involved in KSI (killed or seriously injured) accident types when compared to 1999. Contributory factors in motorcycle related accidents include loss of control, failure to look properly and failure to judge another person’s path or speed. Nearly a quarter of accidents that involved motorbikes with an engine capacity of under 50cc were caused by the inexperience of the motorcyclist.

The full report can be found at the link below

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/vehicles/licensing/latest/mccomp.pdf

The finding show that in 2009 the average road traffic speeds for cars on motorways was 70mph. However 52% of cars exceeded 70mph speed limit with 16% travelling over 80mph. HGV’s tended to stick to their legal maximum speed limit on motorways of 60mph, but 83% exceeded the 50mph limit on Dual Carriageways. 43% of motorcycles exceeded the 30mph built-up areas limit by 5mph or more.

Road traffic accident statistics show that in 2009 half of those killed in road traffic accidents (2,222) were car occupants. A fifth of KSI accidents were motorcyclists and the same for pedestrians. The majority of the fatal accidents had occurred on rural roads.

The main findings of the statistics compare 2009 with 2008 on all accidents that involve some form of personal injury and that are reported to the Police within 30 days.

The total number of casualties, 222,146, were 4% lower than in 2008. Breakdown by injury:

• 2,222 people were killed, 12 per cent lower than in 2008
• 24,690 were seriously injured (down 5 per cent)
• 195,234 were slightly injured (down 4 per cent)

Failing to look was the largest factor that lead up to a collision, whilst in fatal accidents loss of control was the most frequently reported factor. 58% of pedestrian casualties failed to look. Car drivers were most likely to suffer neck injuries whilst almost 50% of pedestrian and motorcyclist injuries involved damage to the hips or legs.

Results from the statistics include:

Car traffic was 249.0 billion vehicle miles in 2009, making up nearly 80% of all traffic.
20 per cent of traffic was on motorways, 28 per cent on rural ‘A’ roads, 16 per cent on urban ‘A’ roads, 14 per cent on rural minor roads and 22 per cent on urban minor roads.
The total length of road 2009 was estimated to be just over 245 thousand miles. Minor roads made up 87.2% of total road lengths, with motorways 0.9% and ‘A’ roads accounting for 11.9%
Around 1 in every 255 vehicle miles was driven by foreign registered vehicles.
In the ten years from 1999, the percentage of vehicles exceeding the 30 mph speed limit on built-up roads has fallen for every vehicle type.
In 1999, 67 per cent of cars travelled at speeds in excess of the limit; by 2009 this dropped to less than half (48 per cent).
On motorways in 2009, 52 per cent of cars exceeded the 70 mph speed limit. In addition, 16 per cent of cars were recorded as travelling at 80 mph or faster.
In 2009, over half of all motorcycles travelled faster than the 30 mph speed limit in built-up areas. Forty three per cent exceeded the speed limit by 5 mph or more.
The average traffic speed over the whole network rose from 55.3 mph in 2006 to 55.9 mph in 2008, an increase of 0.6 per cent.

Compared to the same quarter in 2008, the statistics have the following highlights:

• Car traffic increased by 1 per cent.
• Light van traffic increased by 3 per cent.
• Heavy goods vehicle traffic decreased by 7 per cent.
• Traffic on motorways increased by 1 per cent.
• Traffic on rural ‘A’ roads increased by 1 per cent.
• Traffic on urban ‘A’ roads increased by 1 per cent.
• Traffic on minor rural roads was unchanged.
• Traffic on minor urban roads decreased by 1 per cent.