By Craig Smith

OVER 100 motorists were caught speeding in Fife during a weekend in which police described the behaviour of some drivers as “madness.”

Despite warnings and reminders about dangers on the roads, a total of 106 offenders were detected for speeding offences on Sunday alone, with drivers caught travelling at speeds of 111mph, 103mph and 100mph.

A number of others travelling at more than 90mph were also caught in the crackdown, which coincided with the annual Crail Thrash—an event that allows people to show off their modified high-performance vehicles—over the weekend.

Many of the participants took part in an organised drag race, timed over a quarter-mile course, but those in attendance who were using local roads prior to the event were warned about speeding before it took place.

A high-visibility mobile police presence was in place and staff from the Fife Camera Safety Partnership also deployed mobile camera units throughout the kingdom.

Andy Jones, partnership manager, said, “Last weekend my staff were out in force to tackle issues of speeding on the roads and we publicly warned motorists of this. However, I might add that from three mobile units deployed on Sunday, 106 offenders were detected for speeding offences.

“Among those, motorists travelling at speeds of 111mph, 103mph, 100mph and a number of vehicles driving in excess of 90mph were caught—this is madness.

“I wonder what it takes for people to take cognisance of the fact that the speed limit is imposed for safety reasons and to prevent serious accident and injury on our roads.”

A large number of people were also caught for other motoring offences throughout Fife over the weekend, all of which police described as “dangerous, and showing a total disregard for the consequences.”

Police were also called to deal with a serious road accident on Strathore Road, near Thornton, on Saturday afternoon that left two men seriously injured.

Chief Inspector Alex Duncan, from Fife’s road policing department, said, “On the back of a number of recent press releases warning of the dangers of speeding, (reminding people about) wearing seat belts and DVLA issues in respect of road tax, my colleagues and I spent the weekend dealing with people who obviously thought themselves exempt from not only those warnings but clearly from following the road traffic law.

“Will people only take notice of our warnings and the lawful speed limit when something serious occurs that affects them? As I have said time and time again, the speed limit is there for a reason and we all are obliged to abide by that limit.”

“The number of people detected for speeding over the weekend, along with vehicles stopped by uniformed road policing officers present in the Crail area, is indicative that people still chose to take risks and drive their vehicle in a dangerous manner.

“My road policing colleagues stopped 32 vehicles on Sunday and from that persons were detected for driving without valid driving documents, road tax offences and also for using mobile phones while driving. We were also involved in the investigation of a very serious road accident that resulted in two young men sustaining very serious injuries.”

Chief Inspector Duncan added, “Take notice of the speed limits and stick to them—it is our core duties as road policing officers to ensure the safety of Fife’s roads and we will continue to do so by using whatever measures are available to us.”

Yesterday, the owner of the Crail venue, Willie Robertson, gave his strong backing to the police and said he works hard through his promotional material and leaflets to drive home the message that local roads and villages have to be respected.

He said that there is only a tiny minority of visitors to his event who misbehave in the area, and he wanted to see everyone keep speed to the track and properly run events, where it belongs.