Motorists have been caught driving at “extreme speeds” on otherwise-quiet roads over the Easter weekend, police have said, including one driver who was clocked at 151mph on the M1 near London.
The number of motorists exceeding speed limits has doubled in some parts of the UK since the start of the coronavirus lockdown, increasing the risk to pedestrians taking their daily exercise.
The Metropolitan police said the average speed on some 20mph roads had risen to 37mph as some drivers were tempted to put their foot down with fewer vehicles on the road.
Over the Easter weekend, when highways would usually be busy with holidaymakers, traffic on some major roads fell by as much as 86%.
However, police warned that some drivers were taking advantage of the quieter motorways by travelling at breakneck speeds. Supt Andy Cox, the Met’s head of road and transport policing, said on Monday that some motorists were still travelling at “extreme speeds” in London.
He posted footage of a police chase involving a driver caught doing 151mph on the M1 at the weekend, while another was spotted doing 97mph on the A10.
Extreme speeds this wkend in #London. Many enforced including 97mph (40) on #A10. This driver reached 151mph on #M1 before decamping car & evading 👮♂️ on foot. We will do upmost to identify & take action. Anyhow no doubt will come to our attention again🤞 before he hurts somebody! pic.twitter.com/SyGV1aS3l5
— Andy Cox (@SuptAndyCox) April 13, 2020
In Greater Manchester, police arrested a Mercedes driver for travelling at what appeared to be more than 100mph on a 40mph stretch of the A580 East Lancashire Road on Saturday.
The driver was “totally unaware of the police car behind him”, the police tweeted, adding that he was “off to court” for speeding and breaching the coronavirus lockdown. The driver of a VW Golf was also caught speeding, at 106mph, on the M61 on Saturday, according to Greater Manchester police.
The coronavirus outbreak has led to Britain’s roads becoming much quieter, with car travel plummeting by as much as 73% to levels not seen since 1955, three weeks after the government ordered people to stop all non-essential travel to curb the spread of the disease.
But police chiefs have raised concerns that people are becoming restless and bored after three weeks of lockdown, leading to some getting back in their cars.
The Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, revealed last week that 40% of cars in the region were exceeding the speed limit, double the rate of 20-25% from before the lockdown.
He said the number of cars on the road in Greater Manchester had “dropped quite significantly” to about 2m, but that there had been a significant rise in the number of speeding vehicles – reaching 45% of all cars at one point.
Burnham said: “That will be worrying in any event, but it’s particularly worrying when more families are out and about taking walks, people are running, cycling, just more people on our pavements. The worry is with so many people out taking exercise on the pavements more crowded than normal. This poses risks to public safety.”
A motorbike rider was arrested last week after being caught speeding at 150mph along the M23 in West Sussex.
Giles York, the chief constable of Sussex police, said at the weekend that a number of his officers had been “verbally abused, spat and coughed on in the line of duty” and that there were still a few people who “think they are above or outside” the lockdown regulations.
He added: “Please respect the work of my officers and my staff. They are taking risks, they are showing courage in continuing to deliver policing on the frontline. Please follow the simple message: stay at home and save lives.”
In the West Midlands, police seized nine off-road bikes and arrested a 15-year-old boy and three men for “turning deserted streets into racetracks” over the bank holiday. They said the group were “running amok on our quieter roads during the government restrictions”.
John Apter, the chair of the Police Federation, which represents frontline officers, said it was “pretty outrageous” that people were flouting the lockdown.
Speaking to LBC radio, Apter said the authorities would be justified in closing parks or beaches if a minority failed to break the lockdown: “The problem is if people ignore the rules and we find that these parks and beaches are getting packed with people – and it’s clearly not daily exercise where they’re having BBQs or picnics or sunbathing – I think the local authorities are right to react to that.”