A Flash of Inspiration? (Speed Cameras and Speed Limits)

Member Name: Waikie

Product:	Speed Cameras and Speed Limits
Date:	04/07/01 (1334 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Raise money - it has some use!, Attempts to save lives

Disadvantages: Causes plenty of outrage

How many of you have been driving along, and watched cars in the oncoming lane racing past you, and seen the Speed Camera happily flashing away? It's a common occurence - I'm not sure that most people notice, and even regular drivers who know where most cameras are usually have somewhere better to be.

As an occasional driver (don't own a car, but have to hire one infrequently), and having been a passenger with many friends of mine driving, I can't give the perspective of a regular driver, like a sales rep for instance, but I do know a few things, and have done a bit of thinking about this.

The linked argument that Speed Cameras fail to enforce the speed limits, and that speed limits should be raised, seems a bit shortsighted to me. I've heard plenty of people tell me that speed limits are too low, especially on the Motorway, and that Speed Cameras don't work, all they do is bottleneck drivers into short braking and then bursts of speed.

I agree that the sudden slowing and speeding up of drivers as they approach a speed trap is very dangerous, and something needs to be altered to arrest this situation, but speed limits too low? Please.

The concensus from drivers seems to be that motorways in Europe have much higher limits and they have no real problems. That's a fairly innacurate belief. It's true that most European nations have faster limits, but only in certain controlled stretches. The fact that they all use Km instead of Mph tends to round up limits when we look at them. For instance a limit of 120Kph is 74.6mph. The main reason that many European motorways or euroroutes have stretches of higher limits, is because years of study has shown this to be safe in these controlled areas. France, Germany and Italy, the main places where higher speeds are allowed, are far less densely populated than the UK, with far more space on average between towns, more miles of motorway, and a belief built up over ma
ny years, that the privilege of being allowed to go much faster in areas is not to be abused.

There are tradeoffs - In Sweden and I Believe a few other European countries, the speed limit in urban areas is 30Kph , thats not even 19mph. How many British drivers would be able to cope with that? We as a nation, have become, impatient and ignorant of other drivers and pedestrians on the whole. Of course everyone will claim they're good drivers and there are a few idiots, which is mostly true. However - most accidents, which occur mostly in built-up areas are due to a usually competent driver, missing a speed limit sign, or being distracted for just one split second by something, or even talking on their mobile phone - hands free or not, most drivers tend to look around the care aimlessly because their concentration is drawn away from driving - and bang - someone gets hit.

Speed cameras make lots of money - true, and some are in stupid places, true too. More research i think from the government is needed, on how to avoid causing accidents in speed camera zones where people try to second-guess them. The most frustrating thing however is the general outcry that they don't work and that they're an unfair tax. Whether they act to raise revenue or to reduce speeding seems irrelevant. If you didn't speed you wouldn't get caught, and you would have no fines to pay. You might not like the rules, but I can think of better ways to protest than to flout them.

A final point i've just thought of. The argument that cameras on motorways are useless because most accidents occur in towns. Most is the operative word. Whilst accidents occur on motorways, there should be cameras in place to monitor where speeding occurs and with what frequency. I know that comparatively, motorway driving seems safe, you just stay in a lane (until you get impatient with a lorry) and drive fairly straight. The point about the lorry , so many people slag the
m off for being rubbish drivers. They spend their lives dragging heavy loads, conscious of the fact that they take much longer to brake than cars do, that a truck jackknifing will do far more carnage than you can imagine, and that there is most likely a car or two sitting in their blind spot behind the truck. Most drivers are ignorant of braking distances, tailgating is ridiculously prevalent, even on the few occasions when i've been onto a motorway in a friends car, and there is no end of people overtaking into a car or truck's braking distance, forcing them all to slow down again.

Has anyone actually been in or seen a motorway smash? I haven't and I hope you haven't either - but footage alone proves that one tiny mistake at such speeds is far more catastrophic than in a built-up area.

Ok - my rant is over. I agree that speed cameras need some reworking to make them work in a fairer manner, but speed limits do not need to be raised, and the less wingeing in favour of more sensible driving we all do, the better.

BTW - one comment i've picked up on about insufficient signage - if in doubt about the speed limit - usually moving into or out of town on A roads - I believe the highway code recommends you follow traffic or drive at 30, whichever is more sensible!

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