DRIVERS will be banned after just two convictions if they exceed the speed limit by 15mph in urban areas or 25mph on motorways under a shake-up of road safety laws.

Tougher penalties, to be announced next month, will mean drivers get six points for travelling at 45mph in a 30mph area, 55mph in a 40mph zone or 95mph on motorways throughout Britain.

The regulations will be enforced by digital cameras that track average speeds over long distances rather than Gatso cameras, which record speeds at a single point.

Jim Fitzpatrick, the road safety minister, said: “In cases of extreme speeding only, there is a proposal to increase the penalty to six points to ensure the punishment corresponds better to the offence committed.”

Experts said imposing higher penalties on motorways, Britain’s safest roads, was punitive and unlikely to improve road safety. Over the past 30 years, motorways have accounted for 150-180 deaths a year - just 5% of those killed on the roads.

By contrast, the toll on urban and suburban streets remains high. Last year 3,090 children were killed or seriously injured, mostly in built-up areas, including many pedestrians.

Police normally allow motorists to breach the speed limit by a significant margin without fear of prosecution. They rarely stop drivers on motorways unless they exceed 85mph.

Government figures released last week show that 13% of fatal accidents and 8% of serious crashes are caused by speeding drivers. The main causes are failing to look properly, errors of judgment or careless driving.

Quentin Wilson, a former presenter of the BBC television show Top Gear, said: “Everyone knows motorways are the safest roads and a discretionary approach to prosecuting has always worked.”

Motoring organisations said it was unfair to penalise those driving at excessive speeds while abandoning proposals to reduce penalties for those who inadvertently creep over the limit.

Ministers dropped plans to introduce two-point penalties for those exceeding the limit by just a few mph after complaints from road safety groups.

Edmund King, president of the AA, said: “The system should work both ways. If greater penalties are given for worse offences, then smaller ones should be given for more minor infringements.”

The new regulations are proposed in a Department for Transport consultation paper, which is to be launched at the end of October.

Ministers will also announce plans to toughen the regime for drink-driving, although they will reject calls from police and campaigners to reduce the drink-drive limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100mg of blood to 50mg.

They will also introduce £60 on-the-spot fines for careless drivers, and tighten legislation to ensure higher conviction rates for drug-driving.

The DfT has calculated that the combined measures could save up to 400 lives a year out of the toll of 2,714.

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