COMMENT: There's no need to speed to an early grave

Operating within the laws of the land aside, there’s the financial impact of being caught speeding.

You can be fined £100 or more, and if you’re a persistent offender you may find yourself banned from the roads with the potential of a negative hit on your earning power.

Being caught speeding can also affect your insurance premiums.

Recent research has shown that the average cost of speeding conviction is an extra £50 a year on your premium. Commit the offence on the motorway, and impact is doubled. Of course, up there with the consequences of speeding, is the chance of killing yourself.

As we reveal today, almost 14,000 speeding tickets have been issued this year… on one stretch of road alone.

Reduced driving limits on the A19, near Testo’s Roundabout, were illegally flouted 13,755 times between September 1, 2019, and the end of this August. This equates to more than 1,146 offences a month, 264 a week and 37 a day.

Speeding is a big contributing factor to the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads which, despite the warnings, remains pretty much constant year after year.

A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: “Speed limits are in place for a reason. Statistics show that drivers travelling at excess speed is one of the major contributory factors in serious and fatal road traffic collisions.”

Forget the money, but do think of the human cost of flouting the speed limits. It really is a matter life and death.