In what initially seems like an irony, speeding offenses have increased by 6.
5 times in London as the streets have been least crowded in many years. It turns out that while less people are driving around, some drivers have decided to exploit the empty roads and enjoy the speed.
Social media users have been calling these drivers Covidiot drivers. Covidiot is the combination of Covid-19 and idiot, referring to people who have been making less than sound choices since the outbreak of the global pandemic.
Superintendent Andy Cox told the Daily Mail that the London Police had issued 2,020 speeding tickets last week. In the same time last year, only 268 tickets were issued. Moreover, Cox said that there was a notable increase in those going at “extreme” speeds. This means that vehicles were going 20 mph or over the speed limit.
Insurance companies have also been giving out record numbers of warning to drivers registered in their systems. These companies receive automatic messages from the vehicles’ black box when the vehicle goes over a certain speed limit.
All this is taking place as there are 60% less cars out in the streets compared to normal times. Cox said that the increase in speeding was evident in all areas and in all streets. Even in 20 mph zones, reserved for school zones and such, many more drivers were caught speeding.
Surprisingly, Cox said that the 2,000+ cases only counted cases that their officers caught in person. All violations that were caught by speeding cameras have not been added yet.
Since the lockdown measures were first imposed, more police have been dispatched around the British capital. It is possible that some of the increase could be because of that. However, the increase in extreme speeding cases can’t be explained by the increase of officers in the roads.
The increase in speedy drivers were also noticed by the civilian population. In a poll that surveyed more than 20,000 British drivers, 44% of them said they have witnessed more drivers whizzing by them on the roads.
Historically cheap petroleum prices are quite literally fueling some drivers to try speeds that they couldn’t imagine on the usually busy streets of London.
Speeding is the biggest mistake that a driver can make on the road, and almost always leads to severe injuries when it leads to an accident. We hope that everyone makes the smart decision. Share with us your thoughts on this story, and be sure to follow us on Facebook for more news like this one.
Replaced!