The Metropolitan police is on target to catch a million speeding motorists a year, after the number of fines it issued increased by almost 12 per cent last year.
Latest figures show that 815,345 drivers were caught breaking the speed limit in Greater London in 2024, up more than 85,000 on the 729,387 in 2023.
It is not known how many of the fines were imposed on drivers breaking 20mph speed limits.
More than half of roads in London are now limited to 20mph as part of an effort to reduce road danger.
In addition, Transport for London has been reducing the maximum speed permitted on main roads such as the A406 North Circular Road. This has seen sections reduced from 50mph to 40mph.
TfL wants the Met to have the capacity to issue a million speeding tickets a year.
Latest road casualty figures show that 910 people were killed or seriously injured on London’s roads in the last three months of 2024, up from 866 in the same period in 2023.
Speeding is typically a factor in about half of road deaths. There were 35 road deaths in London between October and December last year – the highest figure for five years.
This was because of a big increase in the number of pedestrian fatalities, which rose from 13 to 24.
It is not yet known whether drivers involved in these fatalities were speeding.
TfL says there has been a “sustained reduction” in the number of people killed on London roads post-pandemic, compared to pre-pandemic
It says: “We attribute this to lower speed limits, the Direct Vision Standard, among other road safety interventions, and changes to travel patterns.”
A report to TfL’s safety committee added: “Speeding is the largest contributor to injuries on our road network and it is important that we address compliance with speed limits but also ensure we have the correct speed for the usage of the road, protecting those who are choosing to walk, wheel and cycle.
“We continue to introduce 20mph speed limits on more of the TfL Road Network and now have 20mph limits on a total of 264km of our roads.”
The speeding figures were obtained via freedom of information requests to UK police forces by Confused.com.
It found that nationally more than nine million speeding tickets had been issued in the last three years - with offences on the rise.
Last year there were more than 3.3 million Notices of Intended Prosecution (NIP) issued to drivers - a 14 per cent increase on 2022, where just over 2.9 million offences were reported.
Rhydian Jones, Confused.com car insurance expert, said: “If you’re fined for speeding, the minimum cost is £100 and 3 points on your licence.
“But in some cases, the amount can depend on your annual income, which band your fine falls into and how much faster than the limit you were driving. Using our speeding fine calculator will help you to work out how much you might owe if you are caught.”
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