1500 UK Drivers Caught Doing Over 112mph

It’s always good to have data although this set depends on Police forces releasing the raw offences by numbers, without any age, ethnicity, or exact location of the high speed offences. Plus background info on targeted operations by Police units on particular roads can prompt the speeding offences to appear to linked to an area. In reality some drivers may be visiting an area and end up caught in a camera van/interceptor/drink drive operation. 

It would also be very useful if the Police were to separate out the uninsured, no licence or high on drugs drivers, all of whom tend to hit 100mph plus to evade pursuing Police vehicles. Many illegal drivers are generally not bothering with insurance, or a licence, so insurers are not liable for their assets being wrecked during a Police chase, although they often damage other legit drivers’ vehicles.

In a Staffordshire incident a 27 year old company director (companies both struck off, dissolved) from Romania was caught doing 130mph in 2020. Some might say separating non-UK nationals might also give a more detailed level of risk by region, city or postcode. Another case involved a Kurdish man, who claimed to be homeless, but was driving a Ford Focus at over 130mph because he was drunk. Are such cases typical of UK drivers in general?

In short, loading up ALL drivers premiums because there have been several 110mph pursuits in a particular postcode is kind of skewing, or cherry-picking the data to justify a premium hike. 

Here’s the word;

More than 1,500 drivers were caught breaching 112mph on UK roads over the past 12 months according to new research by Volvo Car UK – that equates to approximately one every six hours.

The new study used data obtained via 45 Freedom of Information (FOI) requests submitted to police forces across the UK and analysed findings from 32 responses. Data covers the 12-month period from September 2024 to August 2025 and includes all incidents where a breach of the speed limit was detected using in-car, fixed speed cameras, mobile speed camera vans and average speed cameras.

Since 2020 Volvo has fitted all its cars with an electronic speed limiter, which prevents modern models from travelling above 112mph (180km/h) as part of its Vision Zero road safety strategy –with the aim no one should be seriously injured or killed in a new Volvo car.

Such technology would have prevented the highest speed recorded across the 30 police force areas which replied to Volvo’s FOI request of 160mph, in Cheshire – nearly 2.3 times the national speed limit. A driver was also caught speeding at 159mph in Northamptonshire.

Nicole Melillo Shaw, Managing Director of Volvo Car UK, said: “At Volvo Cars, safety in and around your car is our number one priority. With a record number of licensed vehicles on the road in the UK – more than 42 million in 2025 – road safety has never been more important. The fact a UK driver is caught travelling in excess of 112mph every six hours, highlights the importance and relevance of our speed limiter technology. It is a feature we build in by design, and the findings of our research suggest it is the right approach to take.”

Northamptonshire saw the highest number of drivers (291) who exceeded 112mph during the past 12 months – perhaps because both the M1 and M45 motorways pass through the county – followed by Staffordshire (196) and Merseyside (117). On the other hand, Dyfed-Powys and Cleveland police data showed zero drivers topping 112mph.

Top-10 areas for drivers exceeding 112mph (Sep 2024-Aug 2025)

Volvo’s speed limiter is a reminder of its commitment to safety. Its aim is to eliminate serious injuries and fatalities in its cars as part of the company’s Vision Zero ambition. The 112mph speed cap became standard on all new Volvo cars from the 2020 model year onwards. Over the same 12-month period, the total number of speeding offences – at all speeds – was at least 3,082,339, with the real number likely to be even higher, due to several police forces not suppling data.

For more information about Volvo, visit https://www.volvocars.com/uk/