Number of speeding tickets doubles as Cambridgeshire police launch crackdown

The number of speeding tickets issued by Cambridgeshire Police has doubled since 2013 new figures show.

Police are reminding motorists of the consequences of speeding as part of a month-long THINK! campaign which launches this week.

Throughout January the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Road Policing Unit (RPU) will be out in force looking for motorists breaking the law.

The minimum penalty for speeding is a £100 fine and three penalty points added to your licence.

In Cambridgeshire in 2013 20,187 speeding tickets were issued, half the number issued in 2014 and 2015 up to December 1, when 41,407 and 40,861 were fined respectively.

A recent Twitter poll to the tri-force followers revealed that tailgating was the worst form of bad driving with 43 per cent of the vote followed by speeding at 25 per cent and failing to signal with 24 per cent. Undertaking received 8 per cent of the vote.

Inspector Philip Bloor said: “Driving too close to the car in front, undertaking and failing to signal are widely accepted as examples of bad driving. However, some drivers fail to accept that excessive and inappropriate speeding is also poor driving and one of the contributions to avoidable collisions that result in death or serious injury.

“It’s simple, the faster you drive the less time you have to react and you are putting not only your life at risk but also the lives of others.”

In 2014, 125,279 people were issued with tickets for speeding across the three counties – 36,290 in Beds, 41,407 in Cambs and 47,582 in Herts.