It’s easy to fall prey to a lack of traffic and step on the gas a little harder than you should when you find yourself on a near-empty road that used to be heavily congested before the coronavirus lockdown.
However, to go from that to doing 134 mph (215 km/h) in a 40 mph (64 km/h) zone is both ridiculous and criminal at the same time. Unfortunately, these are some of the issues that police forces across the UK are having to deal with nowadays, reports AutoExpress.
Traffic in the UK has dropped to levels not seen since the 1950s, and motorists are now treating roads as if they were their own personal race tracks.
Watch: Suzuki Swift Goes Soaring Through The Sky After Hitting Roundabout In Poland
One driver actually told Surrey Police: “I thought the faster I went, the less chance I could catch coronavirus,” after being caught doing 130 mph (209 km/h) on the M25, where the speed limit is 70 mph (112 km/h).
Meanwhile, the one who was doing 134 mph (215 km/h), was nabbed by London’s Metropolitan Police, who also stopped two drivers racing at 80 mph (128 km/h) on a 40 mph (64 km/h) road, and confirmed a separate instance of a driver reaching 142 mph (229 km/h).
“We know that with speed, especially extreme speed, comes increased risk of a serious crash. And potentially, if you’re involved in a high-speed collision, you’re going to end up in hospital, and potentially deprive COVID-19 patients of NHS care,” said Met Police Detective Superintendent Andy Cox in an interview with LBC Radio.
He also confirmed that average speeds in urban 20 mph (32 km/h) zones have risen to 37 mph (60 km/h), which means pedestrians, cyclists and other road users really need to watch themselves more.
