Speeding putting lives at risk on Shropshire's A41, says councillor
Children and families are being put at risk by motorists travelling in excess of 100mph on one of Shropshire's busiest roads, it has been claimed.
Pete Waters said it was "horrendous" that a car had been clocked travelling at 118mph on the A41 at Tern Hill, near Market Drayton. It was the worst case of speeding recorded by West Mercia Police across the force area last year.
Mr Waters, who is chairman of Stoke upon Tern Parish Council, said more needed to be done to tackle speeding in the area.
He said that troops at the nearby Tern Hill Barracks and young children regularly travelled along the road, and said the problems was showing no sign of going away despite regular police patrols and visits from speed camera vans.
The driver travelling at 118mph was heading north towards Whitchurch, where the legal limit is 60mph. The road is a busy route for commuters and lorries travelling from Wolverhampton towards Chester.
He said: "It is already well policed and there is often a speed camera van there so I am not sure what else can be done to reduce the amount of people going over the speed limit. But more needs to be done to tackle this issue as it is very dangerous."
The case has come to light thanks to a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Institute of Advanced Motoring (IAM) asking each police force in the country for the highest recorded speeds caught on safety cameras in 2014.
A total of 36 out of 41 police forces in England and Wales provided the data. The highest recorded speed in the UK was 146mph on a section of the M25 near Kent.
A spokesman for the West Mercia Safer Roads Partnership said: "As with all of our speed enforcement sites, we regularly collect data and monitor the situation so we can focus on the areas with the greatest need."
