A survey by the Association of Police & Crime Commissioners revealed that 88% of people either agreed or strongly agreed with the idea. It also found that seven in 10 thought that fixed penalty notices for speeding and failing to wear a seatbelt should be doubled from the current £100 fine, to bring them into line with offences such as driving using a handheld mobile phone.

Nearly eight in 10 of the more than 66,000 people who responded to the APCC survey said they saw road traffic offences on a daily or weekly basis.

The survey came as a Government consultation into a review of roads policing closed on Monday and new figures revealed there has been no significant reduction in annual road deaths in Britain for almost a decade, despite a 2% fall on the previous year.

Last year saw 1752 people killed on British roads and eight years ago the figure stood at 1754. Back in 2004 a total of 3221 people lost their lives in road accidents.

“Members of the public have clearly had enough of seeing people flouting the laws designed to protect them and their loved ones,” said the police group’s road safety lead Alison Hernandez. “Now we have the evidence to show Government that there is a strong public desire for greater penalties for those who put lives at risk and a desire for increased enforcement.”

She added that some motorists are more likely to drive recklessly when they think there is less of a chance of them being caught.

This week the car insurance provider ‘Insure the Box’ revealed that motorists’ propensity to speed has fallen back to levels seen before lockdown, after a spike in the likelihood of drivers going too fast in April. It added that the number of miles driven daily has broadly returned to that of January.

(Photograph: PJ_Photography - Shutterstock)