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Research by car insurance expert Admiral, reveals where you live in the UK could affect your chance of getting a speeding conviction, with motorists living in parts of Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Dorset the most likely to have points for speeding.

Admiral looked at data from 1.5million motorists to see which postcode areas have the highest percentage of motorists with a speeding conviction*. It found that 27% of motorists in Radlett, Hertfordshire have a speeding conviction, the highest percentage of anywhere in the UK. This compares with just 4% of drivers living in the Possil Park and Milton areas of Glasgow, the lowest in Admiral's statistics.

Admiral managing director, Sue Longthorn, said, "Speeding is an emotive subject for motorists, since the introduction of speed cameras the number of people with points on the licence has risen considerably. We wanted to see if there was a pattern between where people live and the frequency of speeding convictions."

According to Admiral's statistics the national average percentage for motorists with speeding convictions is 13%, but some parts of the country have a far higher percentage than this. As well as Radlett, some areas of Buckinghamshire and Dorset also have a high percentage of motorists with a speeding conviction, these include Westbourne in Bournemouth with 26%, Princes Risborough, Bucks with 25%, Parkstone in Poole with 24% and Chalfont St Giles, Bucks with 22%.

To find out if a profusion of speed cameras contributes to more motorists getting caught speeding, Admiral looked at the conviction statistics for the police forces with the highest and lowest number of speed cameras **. It found the evidence conflicting.

It won't surprise motorists in the Thames Valley Police Force area to find there are more cameras there than anywhere outside of London.Thames Valley covers 10 of the 20 areas of the UK with the highest frequency of people with speeding convictions.

Sue Longthorn continued, "The statistics for the Thames Valley police area are quite extraordinary. We looked at data from 1,600 postcode areas of the UK, and the fact that half of the top 20 for speeding convictions are in the Thames Valley area does suggest there could be a link. There is also a possibility that a lot of these people use the M25 or main roads into London, both of which have a high number of cameras."

However, Thames Valley is the exception, and the other forces Admiral looked at suggest that more speed cameras don't necessarily result in a higher percentage of convictions.

Despite coming under the police force with the largest number of speed cameras in the UK, motorists in London are very average when it comes to getting caught speeding, with 12% of them having done so. While South Wales Police Force has the third highest number of speed cameras in the UK, yet motorists there have among the lowest percentage of speeding convictions with an average of just 10%.

At the other extreme, Durham police force operates the lowest number of speed cameras in the UK, but people living in some parts of the county have an above average frequency of speeding convictions. Overall 11% of people living there have points for speeding.

Sue Longthorn, commenting on this, said, "I guess the jury is out as to whether speed cameras make roads safer, there is a lot of contradictory evidence as to whether or not they stop drivers from speeding. But one thing is for sure, there are certain parts of the country where people are far more likely to have a conviction for speeding and there are parts where hardly anyone has one."

TABLE 1 – Speeding conviction hotspots and coldspots

Hotspots			Coldspots
1st	Radlett, Herts	27.0%	1st	Possil Park & Milton, Glasgow	4.1%
2nd	Westbourne, Bournemouth	26.4%	2nd	Larkhall, Lanarkshire	4.9%
3rd	Princes Risborough, Bucks	25%	3rd	Wensleydale, NorthYorks	5.3%
4th	Boscombe, Bournemouth	23.6%	4th	Greenock, Renfrewshire	5.3%
5th	Parkstone, Poole	23.6%	5th	Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire	5.4%
6th	Holmer Green & Hazlemere, Bucks	23.1%	6th	Kilbirnie, Ayrshire	5.5%
7th	Chalfont St Giles, Bucks	22.0%	7th	Folkestone (S), Kent	5.7%
8th	Woburn, Beds	21.6%	8th	Saltley & Ward End, Birmingham	5.9%
9th	Henley-on-Thames, Oxon	21.4%	9th	Handsworth, Birmingham	6.0%
10th	West Cliff, Bournemouth	21.1%	10th	Kirkby, Liverpool	6.1%
11th	Beaconsfield, Bucks	21.0%	11th	Droylsden, Greater Manchester	6.2%
12th	South Queensferry, Edinburgh	20.9%	12th	Pontypool, Gwent	6.3%
13th	Marlow, Bucks	20.7%	13th	Dalry, Ayrshire	6.3%
14th	Aylesbury (NW), Bucks	20.5%	14th	Folkestone (N), Kent	6.3%
15th	Great Missenden, Bucks	20.5%	15th	Tottenham, North London	6.4%
16th	Bury St Edmunds (S), Suffolk	20.1%	16th	Stevenston, Ayrshire	6.5%
17th	Haddenham, Bucks	19.8%	17th	Dunvant, Sketty & Killay, Swansea	6.5%
18th	Iver, Bucks	19.6%	18th	Rainford, Merseyside	6.5%
19th	Buckhurst Hill, Epping Forest	19.6%	19th	Neath, West Glamorgan	6.5%
20th	Clifton, Bristol	19.5%	20th	Penzance, Cornwall	6.6%

TABLE 2 – Speeding conviction percentages for people living in police forces with most and least speed cameras**

Most cameras			Least cameras
1st	Metropolitan	12%	1st	Durham	11%
2nd	Thames Valley	15%	2nd	Central	12%
3rd	South Wales	10%	3rd	North Yorkshire	10%

* Only postcode areas with 250 or more policyholders included in order not to skew data.
**Speed camera numbers based on data provided by individual police force safety camera partnership websites.

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