“The speed limit is a limit, not a target. You have to drive within it to stay in proper control, there’s no such thing as safe speeding”

That is the warning from Hampshire and Thames Valley’s Roads Policing Unit this week.

Until Sunday, officers will be joining other forces across the UK and in Europe, to tackle this issue and highlight to motorists that travelling at illegal and/or inappropriate speed is the single biggest factor in fatal road collisions.

On average, excessive or inappropriate speed is a contributory factor in 20 per cent of road deaths and 12 per cent of all serious casualties across Hampshire and the Thames Valley region.

Sergeant Rob Heard, from the Roads Policing Unit in Hampshire and Thames Valley said: “People need to realise it’s a speed limit and not a target so it may be more appropriate to travel at a lower speed depending on the road conditions for their own safety.

“Drivers can become complacent about roads they are familiar with, causing them to be less alert to the road, and drive at a faster speed.

“A few miles an hour over the speed limit or travelling at inappropriate speed can have catastrophic upon road users and their families, many of whom also suffer lasting a profound consequences from collisions where a loved one has been killed or seriously injured."

“Excessive speed will reduce the time you have to react to a hazard and further the distance it takes for you to stop.”