Speed camera catches thousands breaking 30mph limit
The vehicles doing the highest speeds picked up by Herefordshire's only fixed speed camera have been revealed. Standing on the A645 Belmont Road in southwest Hereford, the lone camera has caught nearly five speeding motorists a day in the two years to last month, West Mercia Police sad in response to a Freedom of Information request. Between April 2023 and March 2024, the camera snapped 1,867 vehicles exceeding the 30mph speed limit.
Of these, 1,650 drivers were offered a speed awareness course option and 81 immediately given the GBP100 fixed penalty and three points on their licence, the police's information compliance officer said. It appears that some drivers declined the speeding course option, as the final number of offenders who accepted the fixed penalty was 433. "The highest speed detected was 73mph by a West Midlands ambulance," the officer said.
More recently in the 2024/25 financial year there was a slight drop to 1,643 speeding offences detected by the camera, leading to 340 offenders so far accepting the fixed penalty.
And at 65mph, the highest speed detected in the last year was by... a West Mercia Police car.
Asked about the sums raised from the penalties, the information officer said: "We do not hold the information on fines paid as these go to central government."