GREATER Manchester Police caught 6,293 drivers breaking the speed limit between the start of lockdown on Monday, March 23 and Thursday, April 16.
With all non-essential travel currently banned under Government guidance, the majority of people within Greater Manchester are staying at home and if they need to go out, they are continuing to stick to the speed limits.
However, unfortunately there are people driving erratically and in some of the more problematic areas, the force has seen an increase of 57 per cent in reference to vehicles travelling above the speed limit.
As such the force is stepping up patrols in key hotspot areas in a bid to crackdown on these individuals and help to protect vital emergency services.
Superintendent Julie Ellison, from GMP’s specialist operations team said: “At all times road safety in and around Greater Manchester is of paramount importance as speeding can have devastating consequences – not only does it increase the risk of collisions occurring, but it can affect the severity of those that do take place and in the worst case scenario can be fatal.
“In this current climate, keeping the pressure off our emergency services is so important whilst they keep the public safe and well. If someone is speeding and they have a collision, this will take up vital resources including NHS, fire and the police.
“Sadly we have seen a huge increase in speeding offences and numerous examples of drivers who are putting their own lives and others at risk – one recent example was a driver doing 115mph on a 40mph road and one reaching speeds of 129mph on the M62. The speed limits are there to save lives and should always be adhered to.
“My officers are working tirelessly to track down these offenders who are using the quieter roads as their own personal racetrack.
“We are working closely with our partners and the community to actively discourage them and would like to encourage the public to ensure they are reporting issues/ concerns in their local area so we can plan our traffic operations accordingly and make the best use of our available officers.
“Thank you for continuing to support us during this time and remember Stay Home Save Lives.”
If you have any concerns or issues, please get in touch via the GMP website where we have a dedicated reporting function regarding road offences and members of the public can also submit dash cam footage of any offences they have captured – https://www.gmp.police.uk/ro/report/rti/rti-b/report-a-road-traffic-incident/
You can speak to GMP through LiveChat or by calling 101. Always dial 999 in an emergency.