DORSET has been named as one of the speeding capitals of the UK, according to the latest figures.

Freedom of information requests (FOIs) have revealed the police constabularies that have issued the most speeding tickets across the country in the past 12 months.

Following an 89 per cent increase in searches for ‘speed awareness course online’ between January 2021 and January 2022, a new study by Heald shows the police forces that have issued the most speeding tickets.

Dorset Police distributed 44,985 speeding tickets between January 2021 and January 2022 – the 13th highest out of all 23 forces that responded to the study.

In comparison, West Yorkshire Police handed out 224,160 speeding tickets while Avon and Somerset Constabulary distributed 173,428 tickets.

Meanwhile, Durham Constabulary issued just 693 speeding tickets.

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The findings are based on insight obtained by Heald through FOIs sent to 44 UK police constabularies. Out of the 44 police constabularies contacted, 23 responded.

According to the insight gathered, the top 15 speeding capitals of the UK according to the total number of speeding tickets issued are:

1. West Yorkshire - 224,160

2. Avon and Somerset - 173,428

3. Thames Valley - 151,501

4. West Midlands - 95,093

5. Surrey - 87,270

6. Bedfordshire - 69,818

7. South Yorkshire - 67,255

8. Hampshire - 62,514

9. Lincolnshire - 59,525

10. Hertfordshire - 53,627

11. Humberside Police - 51,914

12. Northumbria Police - 49,046

13. Dorset Police - 44,985

14. Cheshire Constabulary - 39,805

15. Derbyshire Constabulary - 34,466

A Dorset Police spokesperson said: “Road safety is a priority for Dorset Police and we will continue to ensure that people are driving safely and within the law.

“Our Roads Policing Team operates seven days a week to tackle the five biggest killers on our roads known as the fatal five. These are: drink and drug driving, excessive and inappropriate speed, not wearing a seatbelt, driver distractions such as using a hand-held mobile phone and dangerous/careless driving.

“Driving at excessive speed not only puts yourself in danger, but it also endangers other road users and increases the risk of a collision occurring. The consequences of any collision are also likely to be more significant if the speeds involved are higher.

“We recognise that there are specific areas of the county where collisions are more likely to occur. As a result, we proactively target these areas with either our fixed camera enforcement equipment or mobile cameras to ensure we are targeting speeding motorists.

“Speed enforcement has been found to encourage drivers to slow down, resulting in a reduction in the number of collisions in an area or a reduction in the severity of a collision.

“Our safety camera team works on a four-weekly rota of deployment based on collisions and complaints from the public.

“We also now make greater use of social media platforms and other technology to educate the public and get our road safety messaging across.”