MOTORISTS increased their speeds on Southampton’s main routes last year as coronavirus lockdown restrictions sparked a drop in traffic levels, figures reveal.

The RAC says some drivers across the country took advantage of the emptier roads to drive at “dangerous speeds”, including in residential areas.

Department for Transport data shows cars and light vans travelled at an average speed of 19.8 mph on ‘A’ roads in Southampton last year.

That was up from 17.6 mph in 2019 – a rise of 13 per cent.

The A334 saw the biggest rise in speeds, up 21 per cent to 20.5 mph, followed by the A33, up 20 per cent to 26.8mph.

Across England, the average speed of cars and light vans on ‘A’ roads rose by eight per cent last year to 27.3 mph.

This was caused by a steady increase in speeds following the imposing of Covid-19 stay-at-home restrictions in March last year, the DfT said.

Densely populated areas saw the biggest rise in average speeds – up 13 per cent – compared with a four per cent rise on rural roads.

Simon Williams, RAC road safety spokesman, said the impact of the pandemic on the country’s roads was “something of a double-edged sword”.

He added: “On the one hand, fewer delays is positive and may well have led to an improvement in overall air quality, but on the flipside, we know that some drivers have taken advantage of quieter roads by driving at dangerous speeds.

“This has been a particular problem on 30mph roads in residential areas.”

The data also reveals the impact of quieter roads on delays along the country’s A roads last year.

In Southampton, road users were held up 62 seconds per mile on average compared with the pace they would have made if travelling up to the speed limit in free-flowing conditions.

That was a decrease of 24 per cent compared to 2019.

The road with the biggest drop in delays was the A33, with a 38 per cent fall in the average hold-up time.

Across England, delays on A roads fell 23 per cent to 34 seconds per mile on average.

The DfT said the average speed of motorists across the main road network, including motorways, stood at 61.8 mph last year – below the speed limits for the majority of roads where vehicles were recorded.

The department also said average speeds and delays are returning to pre-pandemic levels.