Drivers told exact spots on M6 they must not ignore temporary speed limits as cameras catch 20,000

Anyone who drives on the M6 through the West Midlands often enough will be well aware of variable speed limits. They flash up on overhead gantries at busy times when there is heavy congestion or an accident.

They will instruct traffic to slow down from the usual national speed limit to 60, 50 or 40mph depending on the severity of the situation. Some drivers may often have wondered whether this is merely guidance or a hard rule which must be followed.

Motorists are, in fact, obliged to comply with these temporary speed limits, with cameras in place at certain sections of the motorway ready to punish those who do not. They might not think doing up to 70mph on the motorway can be classed as speeding but at times when there is a variable speed limit in place, it will be.

READ MORE: Police can't believe their eyes after mobile phone footage catches out M6 driver

And there are two M6 junctions in particular in the West Midlands where drivers are mostly likely to be caught speeding here. These are between junctions 7 and 8 near Great Barr and between the M54 exit slip road near Wolverhampton and junction 10 for Walsall.

Exclusive figures obtained by BirminghamLive from West Midlands Police showed almost 20,000 motorists have been caught by variable speed cameras here this year alone - 11,477 between junctions 7 and 8, and another 8,185 between M54 and junction 10. It means around 65 drivers are caught every day at these locations on average.

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BrumWish 2024 is Birmingham Live's festive drive to get thousands of gifts to children and young people across our city - among them the homeless, the vulnerable, kids in care, kids who are poorly or struggling, and kids who have little.

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The use of variable speed limits allows motorway officers to control how fast traffic moves on the motorway. They are normally in place at times of heavy congestion, such as morning and evening rush hour, or when there is an incident to control the flow of traffic and to try to keep it moving as much as possible.

It remains a common sight for them to be ignored, including by motorists who may mistakenly believe them to be guidance or that they cannot be enforced. But now people know on this stretch of the M6 they run the risk of fines and penalty points for ignoring variable speed limits.