SPEEDING has become a form of “middle class anti-social behaviour” in Fenland, according to Cambridgeshire’s outgoing chief constable Julie Spence.

She also criticised motorists who think: “We should be able to get away with it” after she revealed most complaints to Cambridgeshire Police in rural areas such as Fenland are for breaking the speed limit.

Mrs Spence, who retires next month, said: “Speeding is middle class anti-social behaviour. People wouldn’t tolerate law breaking by somebody else but they do it themselves without thinking.

“It all seems okay until something tragic happens, like a child dies because of a road traffic accident.”

Speed cameras have recently been installed on the Forty Foot Bank to cut the number of accidents on a death-trap road.

Road safety campaigner Graham Chappell said it has had immediate success but speed surveys carried out in recent months by police across Fenland reveal that more than one in three people exceed the speed limit.

A survey carried out in Church Road, Christchurch, in March revealed that a third of motorists exceeded the 30mph speed limit. Eight people drove at double the maximum speed and 159 were clocked between 47mph and 57mph.

In March Road, Coldham, a third of drivers exceeded the speed limit at night time compared to just four per cent during the day. More than 100 people were caught travelling at more than 80mph during the six-day survey, also in March.

Surveys were also carried out in Mount Pleasant Road, Wisbech, where six people drove at double the 30mph speed limit; and in Bath Road, Wisbech, where 15 per cent of people exceeded the 30mph limit.

• Speed surveys are carried out in areas with proven speeding problems, or where people have been killed or seriously injured. State-of-the-art equipment is attached to suitable road furniture such as lampposts or road signs to monitor traffic flows and vehicle speeds for, on average, a seven-day period.