Speeding falls dramatically across West Midlands during lockdown
The number of drivers caught speeding on West Midlands roads plummeted as the country went into lockdown, new figures have revealed.
While some motorists have used the quieter roads as an excuse to break the speed limit, overall speeding fell during late March and April due to the huge drop in traffic on the roads.
During one week in April, not a single speeding offence was recorded by West Midlands Police.
In the week beginning March 9, a total of 2,014 drivers were caught speeding. The figure fell to 804 the following week and to 276 from March 23, when lockdown was imposed.
It then fell to 89 in the week beginning March 30 as the UK was firmly in full lockdown mode.
And the following week, from April 6, not a single speeding offence was recorded across the whole of the West Midlands police force area. It meant no-one was clocked by speed cameras or traffic officers that week.
Police chiefs said this due to a "number of issues related to Covid-19", including a dramatic reduction in traffic on the roads, rather than lack of enforcement.
"This is due to a number of issues relating to Covid-19, which included the volume of traffic which had dramatically reduced, resulting in far fewer offences than usual," a statement said.
Speeding gradually climbed in the following two weeks, to 251 for the week beginning April 13 and 540 the week beginning April 20.
The figures were released by the force following a Freedom of Information request from the Express & Star.
Although speeding has gone down on the whole, isolated incidents have caused a concern for officers.
Staffordshire Police launched an operation on the M6 after some drivers were found to be taking advantage of the quieter roads and going at least 15mph over the speed limit.
Hundreds of drivers have been seen breaking the speed limit over recent weeks along the motorway.
