A MOTORIST was clocked travelling at 144mph on the M4 – the fastest so far this year in the country.

The driver was caught on the eastbound carriageway between Junction 19 (the M32) and Junction 20 (the Almondsbury Interchange).

The figures were brought to light following a Freedom of Information request made by price comparison firm Confused.com.

More than 85,000 motorists were caught speeding by police using mobile cameras in the Avon and Somerset area in 2014 – 35 per cent more than 2013. A further 23,173 were caught by fixed speed cameras in 2014.

Figures from a survey carried out on behalf of the comparison site found that 62 per cent of drivers in the South West drive faster than the speed limit with nearly one in six (16 per cent) saying they speed of a daily basis.

Of those who speed, eight per cent say they don’t think they will get caught. However, this is not the case as nearly a third of motorists in the South West (31 per cent) have been caught speeding.

More than a third (34 per cent) say they usually speed because other drivers are too slow so they speed to overtake them.

Of those caught speeding; a fifth (21 per cent) say they were between one and five mph over the speed limit, 19 per cent were caught five to nine mph, 38 per cent caught speeding 10-14mph faster than the speed limit and 11 per cent were 15-19mph over the limit.