SPEEDING should be as socially unacceptable as drink or drug driving according to a new survey by road safety organisation IAM RoadSmart.

Excessive speed is considered acceptable on the motorway and on residential roads by many drivers, says the study.

The survey found that despite more than one-in-10 drivers admitting to exceeding the speed limit of 30mph in residential areas, for almost nine out of every 10 motorists surveyed, speeding in a residential area was perceived as almost as big a threat to their personal safety as motorists driving under the influence of drugs, alcohol or when distracted by social media.

Almost half of motorists (46 per cent) believed it is acceptable to drive 10 miles per hour over the 70mph speed limit on motorways, with a quarter even willing to go even faster.

More than one-in-five motorists (22 per cent) thought it is acceptable to drive five miles per hour over the speed limit on a residential street.

And one-in-10 of the 2,000 people surveyed thought it was even acceptable to go over the speed limit near a school.

Neil Greig, policy and research director for IAM RoadSmart, said: "The results of this survey are deeply concerning. Speeding consistently causes more than 4,400 casualties on UK roads each year. That's an average of 12 people a day killed or injured in some form.

"We need a fundamental shift in attitudes towards speeding so that it becomes as socially unacceptable as drink and drug driving - where public opinion has changed over previous decades."

Further findings from the IAM RoadSmart survey also reveal the different attitudes towards speeding in the UK regions.

Motorists in Yorkshire and Humber (65 per cent), closely followed by motorists in the West Midlands (59 per cent) felt that the issue of speeding was more of a problem today than it was three years ago compared to a national average of 55 per cent.

More than a fifth of London drivers (21 per cent) think they drive faster than most others on the roads, compared to a national average of 13 per cent.

Drivers in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are more safety conscious while only eight per cent of Scottish and Northern Irish drivers and seven per cent of Welsh drivers rated their driving faster than others.