More than 1.4 million drivers, including more than one million caught for speeding, were sent to offender retraining courses in 2017 by the police.

This was the highest number on record, said the RAC Foundation, and almost a million more than attended in 2010, the first year courses were offered.

The vast majority of offenders – some 1,195,356 drivers – were sent on the national speed awareness course. A further 92,386 people completed the ‘What’s Driving Us?’ course.

In total, there are now nine courses available that police can send drivers on.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “The emergence of so many courses partly reflects the increasing complexity of the road network and rise in restrictions drivers now face.

“From 20 mph zones in towns to variable speed limits on motorways the rules of the road are growing in type and number, and there now seems to be a course to match every eventuality.

“The record number of courses run last year could be topped this year as police step up enforcement of Red X signals on motorways.”

Last year, the RAC Foundation and the Daily Mail commissioned Dr Adam Snow to analyse how many speeding offences were detected and how these were disposed of. His analysis showed wide disparities between constabularies.

In 2016, 80,235 drivers were offered the courses in Avon and Somerset. In neighbouring Wiltshire, nobody was.

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