The number of drivers caught by average speed cameras on the A9 quadrupled between 2022 and 2023 hitting a high of 13,322 as the trend for increased speeding seems to be continuing, the BBC is reporting.

The average speed cameras were installed back in 2014 for £3 million. In 2021, 3177 motorists were caught over the speed limit. In 2022, 3123 fell foul of the cameras – that works out to around just over 260 offences a month.

Then in 2023 the skyrocketed to 13,322 for the year – the equivalent of more than 1100 a month – and continued high this year with 4885 offences in total, something more than 814 a month which is still three times more than 2021-22, says the Ross-shire Journal.

This year so far 4885 drivers have been caught speeding on the road including one who was going at 140mph – the highest speed recorded by cameras on the road in the last four years.

The BBC says it obtained figures through a Freedom of Information request on the number of speeding offences and the highest recorded speeds on the road for the last four years showing speeds increasing.

Laùra Hansler, a safety campaigner with the A9 Dual Action group, told the corporation that the record speed is “absolutely inexcusable”, saying: “I think these people really need to be having their licenses removed because they are a danger on the road.

“I think some people will drive the way they want to drive and they’ll get from A to B as fast as they like – they’re not thinking about their own safety and they’re certainly not thinking about the safety of other drivers on the road. I think safety cameras now are so widely used that people get so complacent at seeing them and think they’re infallible. We have to actually have a much harder line on these people.”