Find out why more and more drivers are still speeding in residential areas - plus take out online driving tests

The majority of drivers admit to driving at killer speeds in towns and villages, according to research launched today by the charity Brake.

• Almost three quarters (72%) drivers surveyed by the road safety charity and motor insurer admitted driving at 35mph or faster in a 30mph zone.
• Half of these offenders (36%) admitted doing this daily or at least once a week.

Brake chief executive Mary Williams OBE says: "There appears to be widespread complacency among drivers who may think they will be able to stop in time if they are just going a few miles over 30 - but the physics of speed tells us they wont, and the casualty figures tell us they don't.

"Many of these drivers wouldn't dream of drink or drug driving, but are prepared to risk lives by speeding. There need to be more campaigns that explain to otherwise law-abiding citizens the exponentially damaging effects of increases in speed."

Killed or injured 

Every day in Britain, eight children and young people (aged 0 - 19) are killed or seriously injured on foot or bicycles.

There is no safe speed at which you can hit someone on foot. A car is a one tonne chunk of metal that can cause death or serious injury at any speed. However, by driving slowly in communities we stand a much greater chance of stopping in time. As a drivers speed rises, their stopping distances rise much quicker; stopping distances treble between 20mph and 40mph.

• A car driven at 20mph or lower (the maximum speed limit recommended by Brake for towns and villages) can stop in 12 metres (about three car lengths) or less, giving the driver a good chance to brake and stop in time if a child runs out ahead.
• A car driven at 30mph would still be travelling at about 27mph at the 12 metre marker, and would take nearly double this distance (23 metres) to stop (about six car lengths). A child hit at 27mph is likely to suffer serious injury such as paralysis or brain injury, or die; this is the equivalent of a child falling backwards out the window of a three storey house (a drop of about 7.3m).
• A car driven at 36mph would still be travelling at about 35mph at the 12 metre marker, and would take two and half times this distance (about 30 metres) to stop (about seven and a half car lengths). A child hit at 35mph would almost certainly die or suffer very serious injury such as paralysis or brain injury; this is the equivalent of a child falling backwards off the balcony of a fifth floor apartment building onto concrete (a drop of about 12.6m).
• 20mph is the default urban limit in countries with significantly lower child pedestrian death rates, such as The Netherlands[2][2]. Brake is calling on the government to adopt the same limit in the UK.