Cunobelin wrote:I always find it extremely funny that whenever enforcement of speed is mentioned we get the warped and twisted view that no other road policing exists....
Based on observation of 30 years of driving/motorcycling/cycling I can say that there was a time when you kept your eyes peeled for 'rozzers' because they could and did pull people all the time. These day I see people blatantly breaking the law - not usually by speeding but just general bad driving and struggle to think back the last time I saw someone get nicked. Therefore whilst I'm sure other road policing does exist it's at best a bit thin on the ground these days.
Speeding, jumping lights and other antisocial activities are simply an efficient, and unequivocal way of identifying bad drivers and or cyclists. Of course the Police are out there, but as with the Manchester experiment - putting Traffic Police out to identify the bad drivers and act upon their assessment of the situation became "revenue generating" and "oppression of the otherwise law abiding motorist" within minutes of the announcement!
I think the issue is that when speed cameras where first put in place, revenue generation rapidly did become the name of the game - bit like parking.
For example a straight national speed limit road near me was downgraded to a 30 and a camera hidden behind a sign post. The road offered around a mile visibility, wasn't in a built up area and linked two centres of population. There hadn't been an accident on that road for years.
Interestingly when the council joined up to the road safety whatsit which required them to only put cameras where there actually was a problem - they promptly removed that camera. You can't help but think perhaps safety wasn't at the forefront of it's placing.
There are other examples of this - people aren't stupid, they can tell when they're being played. Downgrading roads for no other reason plays directly into the hands of the anti-speed camera people and gives them the ammunition they need. As a consequence speed cameras have an image now that will probably stay with them forever regardless of how good their placing is. And don't get me wrong I believe speed cameras still have their uses even if their effectiveness of the current generation has been negated somewhat by technology.
We need to educate road users and the ability to spot, and identify these idiots is an an unprecedented high, lets use the systems we have, accept that these road users have shown that they are either unable or unwilling to obey traffic rules and apply remedial education...... where is the issue with that?
Not at all.
And the day when someone overtakes too close and at speed such that I get sucked into the road behind them and then have the satisfaction of seeing them pulled shortly after by a policeman I'll be made up. But I reckon that day is more than a little while off.
You can't simply make such a sweeping statement!
