A MOTORCYCLIST has been charged with riding in excess of 120mph in the Borders – just three days after a national campaign aimed at cutting road speeds ended, writes Kenny Paterson.
The speed was quickest among the 1,837 motorists detected breaking limits during the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) crackdown.
The 35-year-old man was clocked last Wednesday afternoon on the A7 near Fountainhall by road policing officers and has been reported to the procurator fiscal.
Inspector Brian Jones, of the Borders Road Policing Branch, said: “It is very disappointing that only three days after the ACPOS national campaign, which addressed issues of inappropriate driving and excessive speed, and where 1,800-plus motorists were detected for speeding offences, that we in the Borders yet again see a rider of a motorcycle grossly exceeding the speed limit of 60mph.”
Mr Jones said that excessive speed and road collisions were inextricably linked, and addressing issues of speeding vehicles would continue to be core business for all road policing resources.
“This form of inappropriate driving behaviour cannot and will not be tolerated,” he said.
Among the drivers stopped during the ACPOS campaign – there were a further 62 motorists reported for driving dangerously or carelessly – was a 21-year-old man snared travelling at 114mph in Aberdeenshire. A woman was caught travelling in Edinburgh at 71mph in a 40mph limit zone with three children in the vehicle, and a man was detected at 95mph driving through roadworks on the M90 in Fife.
Chief Superintendent Derek Robertson, from Lothian and Borders Police, said: “I am shocked and dismayed at the level of speeding and inappropriate driving which my fellow officers have dealt with during the three days of the campaign.
“The links between excessive speed and collisions causing death or serious injury are clear, and those who flout the speed limits put themselves and others at risk.
“Almost 115,000 speeding offences were recorded in Scotland in 2010/11 which represents over a third of all motor vehicle offences.
“Speeding is dangerous, costly and unacceptable. This has only reaffirmed the intention to continue our focus on irresponsible drivers, to make sure speed limits are acknowledged and the roads made safer for everyone in Scotland.”
Speeding carries a minimum penalty of a £60 fine and three penalty points, while a conviction for dangerous driving can lead to a 12-month ban.