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24
Sept 2020
Sharp increase in speeding tickets pre-lockdown
The number of speeding tickets in North Yorkshire increased significantly before lockdown due to "intensified efforts" by police.
North Yorkshire Police issued 13,424 fixed penalty notices for speeding in January and February this year, compared with 9,726 during the same months last year and 6,147 during the same months in 2018.
It means the police, who released the figures following a request made under the Freedom of Information Act, more than doubled the number of speeding tickets issued during the two-month period compared with 2018.
The number of fixed penalty notices fell from 5,836 in February to 3,624 in March when lockdown began and has remained down on last year's comparative monthly figures. However, the roads have generally been quieter.
Read more:
- Community groups to carry out speed checks in district villages
- Police crackdown on drivers abusing empty Harrogate district roads
A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said it was committed to tackling speeding and had been focusing particularly on towns and villages with a 30mph limit.
The spokesman said there had been some "awful driving and motorcycling" in spring on quieter roads during lockdown and it had launched "a significant operational response to tackle this". The spokesman added:
'Horrific consequences'
The spokesman said police officers saw the "horrific consequences of excessive speed" when they attended incidents. He added:
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