Speeding offences in North Ayrshire rocketed by more than a fifth in 2022-23.

The police and fire and rescue committee heard that speeding offences ended the year up 21.1 per cent on the five-year average and 21.6 per cent  on the previous year.

The 2022-23 period noted the greatest volume of offences in over five years, with 534 in total, compared to 439 a year ago, and 397 in 2017-18.

Whilst this is a concerning trend, it was pointed out that the road policing unit carry out initiatives in specific areas which may influence where offences occur and the volume recorded.

Chief Superintendent Faroque Hussain said: “Speeding remains a key priority for residents within North Ayrshire, as highlighted by complaints from our communities and local elected members.

“Police in North Ayrshire, supported by road policing colleagues, deploy to historical speeding locations on a daily basis, providing education and enforcement activity accordingly.

“Officers take every opportunity during these deployments to glean intelligence for the wider road safety/road crime picture.

“Regular multi-agency meetings take place within North Ayrshire, whereby a number of dedicated locations are identified and feature on Ayrshire road policing’s daily tasking deployments.

“Subject to review every six weeks, partners are updated with activity to ensure detections are fed back to local elected members and communities, reinforcing that this priority is taken seriously.

“Where necessary, deployments will be rotated to ensure an even service spread throughout the sub division.

“The reporting period highlights speeding detections are up 21.6 per cent on the previous year, however this is indicative of localised activity conducted within North Ayrshire by both road policing and local officers.

“Focused activity in North Ayrshire includes dedicated motorcycle safety campaign, A78, A760, A737 enforcement action plans and an island road safety campaign.

"LPT officers respond to local community feedback and undertake speed detection patrols.”