Badenoch questions whether 20mph limits target safety or environmental goals
It comes after one doctor revealed he was one ticket away from a driving ban after being caught driving at 22mph in a 20mph zone.
Speaking with Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, the Conservative leader insisted it was time to "bring some balance" back into speed limit conversations.
"I think they’re more environmental issues," Ms Badenoch insisted of the limit.
"I think the 20 mile per hour zones that are there are mostly around the environment, I don’t think that’s what people should be getting points on their licence for.
"They should be getting points on their licence for driving dangerously. 22mph is very different from driving dangerously."
Ms Badenoch’s comments come after a doctor in London amassed nine points on his driving licence after being caught driving at 22mph in a 20mph zone.
Dr Gary Duffield, from north London, is now facing the prospect of a driving ban if he receives one more ticket, with such a ban threatening to impact his career.
The 67-year-old psychiatrist was ordered to attend a speed awareness course after he was caught driving 2mph over the limit last year.
The consultant then received three more tickets in quick succession - two for driving at 22mph in a 20mph zone and a third for travelling at 25mph.
"I just think that the law-abiding people in this country are having to deal with more and more," Ms Badenoch insisted, adding: "I want us to catch crooks, put them behind bars and if they’re really bad, keep them there as long as we possibly can.
"What I want is for the police to be doing the things that everybody else can’t do. Catching burglars, catching shoplifters, catching those people who are hurting us, who are running around stabbing people and children who need to be dealt with so that they don’t think that looting is a way for them to spend their Easter holidays, because it isn’t," she added.
It comes as more than 16% of British roads now have a speed limit of 20mph - as campaigners continue to criticize the narrow margins involved, insisting the 20mph limits found across the UK are “unjust and unnecessary.”
Transport for London (TFL) says that cars hitting pedestrians at 30mph are five times more likely to kill them than those travelling at 20mph.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has also insisted environmental reasons are a factor for the speed limit in the capital.
The widespread 20mph speed limits have also seen London crowned the world’s slowest driving capital, with research by tech company TomTom showing it took drivers an average of three minutes and 38 seconds to travel one kilometre (0.6 miles) in the centre of the city.
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