Why we need restrictions (Speed Cameras and Speed Limits)

Member Name: mqueen

Product:	Speed Cameras and Speed Limits
Date:	27/12/01 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Help prevent deaths

Disadvantages: May seem inconvenient

More speed cameras! Urrgghh! Why? Is it because the Police forces accross the country see them as a lucrative way to boost the coffers? Possibly.

One thing is certain. The cameras seem to be placed exactly where it's easy to break the speed limit. And, wherever you see a policeman with a radar gun, it is almost always in a 30 or 40 mph zone where it is impossible not to go over the limit by a mile or two. I've been stopped twice in the same place! A tricky road, on a hill where the cars, as they coast down, can't help but nudge over 30. Before you know it, there is the Policeman with his radar gun waving you into the side of the road. Rats!

It does seem intrusive and unfair, when there are real maniacs tearing up roads in densely populated areas. Where are the speed cameras? Or the Policeman with the radar gun? Whatever the reason, I still think that speed cameras and restrictions are right. They are neccessary. Why?

For the same reasons that most laws exist. Because many people can't be trusted to act responsibly of their own accord. Responsible drivers know that driving very fast or recklessly will endanger their life and other people's. But, for those who don't act this way, they need a censure, they need to know that if they do drive this way, the law will punish them. Maybe this will make them act responsibly. Not for the right reason, because they respect the rights and lives of others, but, in their selfishness, because they may lose out financially or in some other way.

It is a great shame that it has to be this way. Have you realised that all of man's laws tell you what to do, or not do? Not what to think. Man's laws cannot be enforced on what you think, only in what you do or don't do. But, the root cause of lawbreaking lies in man's thoughts, long before his actions. These have to be tackled.

And, as I have said before, it starts in the home and in childhood. Teaching
children to be responsible, to respect life and the lives of others. So, that when they grow to be adults, they will obey the law because they want to, because they see the wisdom in doing so, and because they have a strong belief system. NOT because they may be threatened with punishment, a fine, or prison.

Of course, we all need reminders of where we stand legally, and so speed restrictions do aid the responsible driver as well. For instance, on dangerous roads, where the traffic must be slowed down, etc.

Although it may seem to be a pressure or an inconvenience to have to slow down, especially when a camera looms in the distance, it is, overall, for everyone's benefit. The high performance cars that roar around our roads must be slowed down. The carnage of car accidents must be stopped. We are all capable of suffering in one or causing a car accident. If speed cameras help to prevent accidents, then they must be good.
They may be placed in areas where they are bound to reap a bumper crop of speeders, and this may seem a bit underhanded, but, nevertheless, we should still be more speed concious.
I for one, never want the death of someone else on my conscience.

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