New Speeding Penalties Introduced In England and Wales

From April 24th 2017, new laws have come into effect in England and Wales creating tougher penalties for drivers who are caught speeding.

The new penalty fines will be made up of a percentage of your weekly income, points on your license and/or a driving ban. These will be dependent on a number of factors including previous convictions and weather conditions, however, will mostly be affected by the speed at which you are driving.

For example, if you’re in a 20mph zone and you’re caught driving anywhere between 21mph and 30mph you’re likely to receive a fine of 50% of your weekly income AND 3 points on your license.

However, if you’re caught driving above 30mph in the 20mph zone, you’re likely to receive a higher fine of 100% of your weekly income, 4-6 points OR a driving ban of up to 28 days.

So the higher your speed the higher your fine.

The Sentencing Council for England and Wales responsible for these new laws felt the need to introduce the changes to reflect the potential harm speeding can do and felt the existing penalties weren’t tough enough to deter drivers from exceeding speed limits.

See below for their summary of the new penalties and fines:

Speed limit (mph)	Recorded speed (mph)	Recorded Speed (mph)	Recorded Speed (mph)
20	41 and above	31 – 40	21 – 30
30	51 and above	41 – 50	31 – 40
40	66 and above	56 – 65	41 – 55
50	76 and above	66 – 75	51 – 65
60	91 and above	81 – 90	61 – 80
70	101 and above	91 – 100	71 – 90
Sentencing range	B and C fine	B and B fine	B and A fine
Points/disqualification	Disqualify 7 – 56 days OR 6 points	Disqualify 7 – 28 days OR 4 – 6 points	3 points

Band Ranges:

Starting point	Range
Fine B and A	50% of relevant weekly income
Fine B and B	100% of relevant weekly income
Fine B and C	150% of relevant weekly income
Fine B and D	250% of relevant weekly income
Fine B and E	400% of relevant weekly income
Fine Band F	600% of relevant weekly income