UK motoring convictions hit record 3 million as speeding hits 'cash cow' levels
Fri, 27 Mar 2026
Nearly three million motorists were convicted of a motoring offence in 2024, a record high figure that was up nearly 10% in just a single year.
The 2.93 million motoring offences in 2024 compares to 2.69 million in 2023. This hike of a quarter of a million more offences in 12 months shows the sheer scale of the issue.
What’s more, 86% of the total offences in 2024 — a whopping 2.53 million — involved speeding. This too was a record high.
Motoring groups say the figures are of “great concern,” reports Sky News.
The AA says its members regularly see examples of poor driving “but rarely see traffic officers on the road… too many people think they can get away with it”.
The RAC says that half of its members now believe there is a culture of speeding in the UK and “we urge the government to work with police forces and take firm action.
“While enforcement through speed cameras has its place, greater visibility of police officers can also make a significant difference in changing driver behaviour.”
IAM RoadSmart believes the figures show there is now “widespread disregard for speed limits”.
Such is the increase in speeding offences, the number of people taking speed awareness courses has also reached a record high, reports The Times.
2.23 million drivers attended a speed awareness course last year, a figure that’s up 12% in just 12 months – and one million in a decade.
Brian Gregory from the Alliance of British Drivers was unimpressed by the latest speeding offence figures. “They are being handed out because it makes a huge amount of money for little effort… set against a background where speed limits are lowered to stupid levels.
“It is a cash cow — the whole objective of the ‘speed kills’ thing is so they can impose lower and lower speed limits so less people abide by them and more people get caught.”
A survey by Churchill insurance found that nearly 30% of motorists had attended a speed awareness course — and 31% of them still went on to receive speeding tickets afterwards.
Even so, Steve Gooding of the RAC Foundation defended the system. “There is a temptation to view these education courses as no more than a cash cow, in the same way many people think speed cameras themselves are only about raising revenue.
“However, whatever someone’s view of speed limits and the penalties that come with breaking them, we all have a duty to stay on the right side of the law, and hence the limit.”
