Slow Down and Live Longer (Speed Cameras and Speed Limits)

Member Name: Bridgend boy

Product:	Speed Cameras and Speed Limits
Date:	05/11/01 (17 review reads)
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Advantages: Safer

Disadvantages: Hidden

Speed cameras, what a pain. Fancy the authorities trying to slow down cars. What the hell are they playing at? What is the point of me owning a fast car, if I can’t drive it fast? I’m a safe driver and I know when the conditions can handle it and when they can’t. It’s only the police trying to make money on poor old car owners again. They should be out there spending their time catching the real criminals.

These are all words I’ve heard from the mouths of otherwise sane, normal thinking individuals. However, when speed cameras are the topic of conversation, sanity seems to go out of the window.

Lets get a few things straight shall we…

1) The speed limits are set at what the government feels is a safe limit. It cannot possibly be left to the individual motorist to decide what speed they should be doing at any given time. This would result in chaos and lead to deaths.
2) The police don’t make money from the increased number of speed cameras around today. They are only allowed to keep the amount of money that covers the administration of the scheme and money for buying and installing more cameras. The rest of the money generated goes back to central government. (Hopefully, to be spent on improving public transport).
3) The increase in speed cameras over the past few years has resulted in a marked fall in deaths caused by dangerous driving. That’s a fact. Who would like to argue that that’s a bad thing?

Speed cameras have slowed the motorist down. That can only be good. Yes, I agree, they can be a pain when you’re in a hurry. But they are a small price to pay for making our roads a safer place.

However, having said that, there is one thing I disagree with. They should be viewed as a preventative measure and not just used to catch out motorists. To this end, I would paint them a bright colour and position them where they can be clearly seen b
y motorists. This would not have the effect of only slowing people down because they know there’s a camera round the corner, if it is coupled with more roving cameras and manned speed gun traps.

It seems to me that the majority of those people complaining about speed cameras being a civil injustice are those pompous, stupid individuals who can think no further than their own selfish needs. Would they be so quick to criticise if a speeding motorist killed a member of their own family? I would think not.

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