A driver has been caught speeding at 61mph in a 30mph zone, just a few feet away from a child cyclist, with the police confirming that a prosecution will take place, while also identifying 280 other instances of motorists speeding or using mobile phones in one hour.

Devon and Cornwall Roads Policing Team shared the image of the driver taken from the speed gun, caught driving a white Mercedes at double the legal speed limit outside Hayes School in Paignton, passing a child cycling on the edge of the road.

The policing team wrote: "A busy morning on the Paignton Police patch. Enforcing outside Hayes School and on Dartmouth Road, where this driver was caught at an eyewatering 61mph in a 30mph, with a child on a bicycle just feet away‼️ Driver will be prosecuted".

Adrian Leisk, Head of Road Safety at Devon & Cornwall Police, said: "Our South Devon team identifying, yet again, that speeding drivers in Torbay are not expecting to be held to account."

He added that this was made all the more concerning given the fact that the borough of Torbay, comprising of Paignton, ranked first in the list of places where casualty reduction efforts have been the least effective, according to the GB Road Performance Safety Index (link is external) report.

The future projection data also indicated that without significant intervention, Torbay will have a 'killed or seriously injured' (KSI) casualty rate that is 3.45 times the target rate for 2030.

The team was not just policing in one location. A person asked the social media account of the roads policing team if they were enforcing speed between Marldon Rd and Marldon Cross roundabout, mentioning that it was "like a racetrack going north".

Devon and Cornwall Roads Policing Team replied saying that they had completed an hour of speed and mobile phone enforcement at rush hour, identifying over 280 offences.

A police spokesperson told DevonLive: "The #NoExcuses campaign was developed to highlight some of the most unbelievable reasons given by drivers for committing one of the ‘fatal five’ offences by motorists travelling on the roads of Devon and Cornwall."

Earlier this month, road safety stakeholders in West Midlands, led by the region's walking and cycling commissioner Adam Tranter, introduced a new package of tougher measures to tackle dangerous driving.

The meeting also cited the aim to "target the most dangerous drivers" with "relentless enforcement of the rules of the road".

Just this week, new high-tech bi-directional speed cameras were installed in Devon and Cornwall. The new cameras, placed in areas including Drakewells and Gunnislake, have already caught thousands of drivers in just the first few days of a trial period in the south west.

The pilot project saw four of the new cameras installed with 3,280 drivers issued tickets in only two weeks. One of the cameras has been activated about 120 times per day in the first two weeks, while another detected a driver travelling at 73mph on a 30mph road.

https://road.cc/content/news/driver-zooms-past-child-cyclist-eye-watering-61mph-303435