Police caught driver travelling at 148mph on this Scottish road

A motorist in Scotland was apprehended by police after driving at 148mph on a country road, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.

The driver was travelling on the A68, at Soutra Hill, in the Scottish Borders at 11.52am on an unspecified date when they were stopped. The analysis, by motoring organisation the RAC, also found nearly half of UK police forces caught drivers exceeding 90mph on 30mph roads in the 20 months to the end of August last year.

In Scotland, the highest speed reached in a 30mph limit was a driver travelling at 93mph, who was stopped by police. The location is not specified.

The RAC said the figures demonstrated “incredibly dangerous actions” by motorists. The motoring body called on the UK government to use its coming road safety strategy to tackle “avoidable casualties” in crashes involving speeding drivers.

Police stopped a car driving at 143mph on a country road in Scotland. | PA

The highest recorded speed on 30mph roads included in the analysis was 122mph in the South Yorkshire Police area. For 20mph roads, the top speed was logged by North Wales Police at 88mph. In Scotland, no top speed for a 20mph zone was recorded.

Roads with 20mph and 30mph limits were more likely to have a higher number of pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable groups, the RAC said. The fastest speed detected on any road was 167mph on a 70mph stretch of the M1 motorway by Leicestershire Police.

The figures were obtained through Freedom of Information requests to 45 police forces relating to the period from the start of January 2023 to the end of August last year. Forty forces provided data.

RAC road safety spokesman Rod Dennis said: “Although this data is a snapshot, it shines a light on the incredibly dangerous actions of a few, that are putting law-abiding road users at serious risk. Thankfully, the police were on hand to catch these drivers.

“There is no place for the vastly excessive speeds that some people are prepared to drive. Speed is the leading cause of deaths on UK roads.

“We look forward to the government’s forthcoming road safety strategy understanding what can be done to reduce such avoidable casualties on the UK’s roads.”

Chief Constable Jo Shiner, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing, said: “We know that some incidents of going over the speed limit can be genuine mistakes or errors. But the speeds cited here are clearly drivers taking deliberate decisions to travel at excessive speeds, putting everyone at risk.

“Speed limits are set based on many factors, including the road layout, what’s in the surrounding area and taking into account where there might be more vulnerable road users. Choosing to drive above those limits is reckless, selfish and completely unacceptable.”

Separate Department for Transport (DfT) statistics show 331 people died in crashes on Britain’s roads in 2023 in which a driver exceeding the speed limit was a contributory factor. This was at least a ten-year high and represented 21 per cent of all road fatalities.

An RAC survey carried out last year indicated 55 per cent of drivers believe there is a culture among UK road users that it is acceptable to speed, with only 23 per cent disagreeing with this assertion.

A DfT spokesman said: “There’s no excuse for those who risk the lives of others through speeding, and there are already tough penalties in place for drivers who speed.”