Thousands of speeding drivers ignoring limit on Horncastle roads, new data reveals

The data has been collected by a reactive speed-monitoring device installed by Horncastle Town Council at various locations during 2024 and 2025.

The device was erected at the locations, where the speed limit is 30mph, for a certain number of days and produced information showing the number of vehicles on the road and the speeds they registered.

In some places, more than a third of motorists were found to be speeding, with some clocking double the limit.

On Boston Road, near Banovallum School, the device was in place for 16 days last November and for 11 days last March.

In November, of 63,015 vehicles recorded, 23,381 or 37.1 per cent, were above the speed limit, with a highest speed of 72mph.

In March, of 46,427 vehicles on the road, 19,767 or 42.5 per cent were above the limit, with the highest speed 63mph.

It was the same story on Spilsby Road, where the device was installed for 17 days in December 2024. Of 57,664 vehicles recorded, 22,901 or 39.7 per cent were speeding, with the highest speed being 75mph.

Percentages of more than 20 per cent or just under were also recorded for Accommodation Road, Lincoln Road and Low Toynton Road, while Louth Road, Langton Hill and Steve Newton Avenue fared better.

The figures are sure to trigger another debate at the town council and were due to be discussed at its January meeting.

Back in 2022, when similarly shocking data was revealed, the then-chair, Coun Fiona Martin, said: “The figures are quite horrific, especially when you look at the percentage of people speeding and the top speeds they were seen doing. It’s diabolical.”

However, four years on, it is becoming questionable how effective the device is, given that it is quite old and its data is disregarded by Lincolnshire County Council’s highways department.

In a report to the town council, clerk Amanda Bushell says: “The main aim of having the sign is to reduce speeds on our roads. We also have passive signs in various places.

"However, it is recognised that the reduction is only temporary while the sign is in that location.

"It is debatable how useful recording the data is. It has never been shared with any other agencies, and the county council has previously stated it would not use it solely to make any decisions on traffic management because it cannot confirm whether it is correctly calibrated.

"If the county council wishes to evaluate a location for speed-reduction measures, it carries out its own assessment.”

Amanda confirmed that some locations have had their speed limits cut from 40mph to 30mph in recent years.

But in light of the latest data, it was now up to town councillors how to progress. Should they carry on as they are, buy new, more modern reactive signs, which are expensive, or rely only on passive signs, which provide real-time feedback to drivers about their speeds.

Amanda said: "New 30mph passive speed signs have been purchased and these will be displayed from time to time on Boston Road, Spilsby Road, Langton Hill, Louth Road and Lincoln Road.

"All the signs act as preventative measures. But there has been an issue with speeding in Horncastle for several years now.”

The town council continues to work with the county council, the police and the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership in an effort to come up with positive solutions.