Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner has been left questioning the sanity of some motorists after it emerged that 3,120 have been caught exceeding a 60mph limit since it was introduced over the Orwell Bridge.

The average speed cameras were turned on at the start of July and we have put in Freedom of Information requests to find out how many motorists have been caught speeding on the bridge.

Last month we revealed that 1,699 had been caught in July. A new FoI request has revealed that 1,421 were caught in August.

The fastest speed by a driver travelling illegally was 113mph caught by the average speed cameras.

Two speeds of 116 and 117mph were recorded by emergency vehicles on “blue light” calls.

Suffolk PCC Tim Passmore was appalled to hear the figures revealed by the police. He said: “You have to question their sanity. There are so many signs on the road, beside the road and the cameras themselves are quite obvious.

“The speed limit is there for a reason, to make the road safer and it is quite extraordinary that so many people ignore all of these warnings.

“You might wonder if they have defective eyesight not to see what the limit is – in which case they certainly should not be on the road.”

The speed limit with average speed cameras was introduced in a bid to reduce the number of accidents on the bridge.

There has not been many serious injury accidents on the bridge, but in the past there have been a significant number of accidents that close one carriageway or the other – and that can bring gridlock to Ipswich town centre.

The speed limit was introduced at Easter and since then there seems to have been fewer accidents – although the worst time for accidents tends to be during the autumn and winter.

Roads policing sergeant for Suffolk police, Scott Lee-Amies, said: “The cameras were put there for a reason in an attempt to reduce the number of collisions and casualties on the roads, so it’s disappointing that this number of people have been found travelling in excess of the speed limit.

“They should be aware that the difference of a few miles an hour can mean the difference between life and death.”