Since January 2013, more than 20,000 overseas drivers recorded with road safety offences and over speeding on the UK roads and escaped because they can’t be traced. The over-speeding test equipment recorded 23,295 drivers doing far over the recommended speed limits and easily escaped without paying fines equailant to £2.3 million.
The Institute of Advanced Motorists has requested some data via freedom of information platform and revealed couple of hot spots where foreign drivers frequently doing the speeding offences. The Thames Valley is on the top of the list where 3,580 speeding offences recorded. The Valley area has also recorded a driver doing 102mph in the zone where 70mph is permitted by law.
Merseyside is holding the second place in the list of worse areas for fine losses where 2,477 drivers were recorded breaching the UK driving laws. Warwickshire is the third worst zone reported 2,152 offences done by foreign drivers. The traffic controlling authorities are unable to stop and trace these drivers because their vehicles have no records available with DVLA and these offences cannot be pursued further.
The most alarming state was recorded in Surrey where one foreign driver caught doing 109mph in a 50mph zone. Even the busiest road M25 is not avoided by the foreign drivers, it passes through the London as the London Orbital, and a driver recorded doing 111mph near Kent.
Neil Greig is the director of Policy and Research at the Institute of Advanced Motorists, he said, “The high numbers of overseas speeders on our roads show how important it is that the UK joins up with the rest of the Europe”. The foreign drivers are pushing the UK authorities to harmonise the deriving offences by empowering the police with extra powers to pursue dangerous drivers. It is necessary because if anything bad happens because of foreign drivers that might hit our community very hard. In order to make our roads safer it is necessary to stop these dangerous drivers at the spot and fine them because otherwise they are not traceable.
