More motorists were caught speeding last year, with the worst offender caught doing 152mph.

The total number of offences in 2011 rose 6% compared with 2010, according to figures from insurance company LV.

Offending speeders drove at an average 56mph in 2011 compared with 54mph in 2010, the statistics from a freedom of information request to police forces showed.

The 152mph speedster was caught by Sussex Police, while an offender was stopped by Tayside Police doing 149mph and a driver in the Thames Valley Police area was doing 142mph.

According to data from 36 of the police forces in Britain who responded, there were 955,459 incidents of speeding in 2011 - up from 899,934 in 2010.

A separate survey of 1,531 drivers by LV showed that since 2009, 9% had been caught speeding and 17% of these had been caught two or three times. The survey showed that 71% could not name the speed limit on a rural road, single carriageway, dual carriageway, motorway or a road in a built-up area.

When shown photographs of different roads, 33% could not correctly identify the 60mph speed limit for a single carriageway and 52% did not know the speed limit on a rural road without street lights.

As many as 30% believe the 70mph speed limit is too slow, while 64% welcome the planned speed limit rise to 80mph. And as many as 41% say they routinely break the current 70mph limit when they think they can get away with it.

Government proposals to increase speeding fines from £60 to as much as £100 to compensate victims of crime were not welcomed, with 40% seeing the increase as an unfair tax and 42% saying it was unfair to penalise drivers for other people's crimes.

LV car insurance managing director John O'Roarke said: "It is alarming that so many motorists cannot correctly identify the legal speed limit on UK roads when tested. The police data shows that more speeding motorists are being caught each year and drivers should take care to know their limits to avoid a fine, penalty points or worse."