LONDON - ROAD safety campaigners vented their anger on Tuesday after Newcastle United's Nigerian international striker Obafemi Martins was not banned from driving despite being caught speeding well over the limit.

The 24-year-old was driving at 171kmh in his Porsche on a 70 mph (113 kph) road.

Newcastle Magistrates' Court in north-east England heard on Monday that Martins broke the speed limit last May for fear of missing a flight to see his sick son in Italy.

The former Inter Milan player was fined 550 pounds (S$1,205) and ordered to pay 400 pounds costs. He also had six points put on his driving licence.

District judge Stephen Earl gave Martins credit for his guilty plea and unblemished driving record.

But Cathy Keeler, deputy chief executive of the road safety charity Brake, said drivers going faster than 100 mph should automatically lose their licence.

'Going so much over the speed limit is taking a blatant risk with lives on the road,' she said.

'There is absolutely no excuse.

'For someone who is a role model in the community, this sends out a terrible message that road safety does not matter.

'A fine of a few hundred pounds for someone who earns thousands a week is not really a deterrent.

'The courts need to find a better way of dealing with incidents like this, that does provide a real deterrent.

'We would like to see anyone going so significantly over the speed limit to be treated as committing a much more serious offence and prosecuted for careless or dangerous driving, rather than speeding, and face an automatic ban.'

Andrew Howard, head of road safety for the Automobile Association, said: 'Driving at over 100 mph does not mean an automatic ban, but the guidelines suggest that it should.

'The only guideline laid down for the courts for speeding offences is a maximum fine.' -- AFP