Police Speeding 838Rather obviously, it is best for the vehicle to travel at a speed that is neither inappropriately slow nor inappropriately fast. I also don't understand why the...
Pre-speed cameras, the national road rest toll reduced year on year. This was attributed to improvements in vehicle safety and medical advances. Coincident with the widespread introduction of speed cameras in 1991, the rate of by which the rest toll reduced started to decline. It did this despite an accelerated rate of improvement in vehicle secondary safety and medical capabilities. The gap between how the rest toll should have reduced and the actual figures is called a reduction of trend and can be considered a measure of how many people speed cameras have end. Two years ago the trend reversed and for the first time the rest toll increased. There was another increase last year. FYI, I've seen claims that well over 5,000 people have been end as a direct or indirect result of speed camera policy.
The problem is (simplistically):
1. The fixation on speed while ignoring real factors of road safety sends a very powerful and erroneous message: "Travel at the speed limit and you will be safe." Millions of motorists now believe that their primary responsibility to road safety is not to drive safely but to keep within the speed limit - even if that speed is not appropriate. (and I'll bet there are readers who right now are wondering what I'm talking about and thinking that driving safely *is* driving within the speed limit!)
2. To keep within the speed limit at all times you need to know two things: the speed limit and your speed.
The speed limit: With so many inappropriately low speed limits now in place, you no longer have a reasonable chance of knowing the limit from the conditions. So many limit signs are poorly placed that the only way to be sure of the speed limit is to constantly check the roadside above the level of traffic. This takes your concentration away from anticipation and hazard awareness.
Police Speeding 836I see this as another attempt by the pro-scamera brigade, who use misdirection like "regression to the mean" to "show" that cameras save lives: The number of vehicles was also increasing rapidly between...
Your speed: To know your speed at all times involves frequent checks of your speedometer, particularly if you're driving an auto with a torque convertor. In tests, it has been shown that it takes an average of two seconds to switch your gaze to the speedo, refocus your eyes to that distance, note your speed, switch your gaze back to the road, and refocus your eyes for far distance. There is evidence that people spend about 30% of their time in the vicinity of speed cameras with head in dash. These devices are supposed to be used in accident black-spots - where you need all of your attention on the road.
Police Speeding 842What public. I understand he did it on an empty road at night! There was nobody else around. what public? What Danger? There was nobody else about, if there had been I am sure that...
Concentration is a finite resource. Knowing the speed limit and your speed at all times increase workload and severly reduce the available amount of concentration for hazard awareness and driving safely.
3. Reduction of proper policing: As authorities rely evermore on automatic enforcement, they are reducing the ability to detect aggressive driving, tailgating, driving on the wrong side of the road, etc. That is they are losing the ability to detect dangerous driving. To detect such things, which are real safety factors, requires the skill and judgement of police officers. Yet many constabularies have disbanded their traffic divisions on the grounds that they are no longer required. Of course, this further the reinforces the message that all you need to do to drive safely is keep to the speed limit - because dangerous drivers know they can get away with driving dangerously if they don't speed.
So, speed cameras are the main face of a flawed "road safety" policy that cares more for money than human life - and that policy kills.
--- Now, I never said "no speed limits". However, I do think that it's time to reverse those stupidly inappropriate limits that have sprung up recently. Two or three decades ago, the speed limit actually meant something and was (usually) a good guide to appropriate speed under good conditions. However, that's not the case today because inappropriately low limits dilute meaning from the limits that are appropriate.
The speed limit used to be a guide and speeding was used expediently by the police to punish dangerous drivers. To be prosecuted, you needed to be doing something silly, not just 35 mph in a completely clear, urban area. Speeding was just a useful tool; now it is the bee-all and end-all of traffic enforcement - and that's plain wrong.
I don't want to drive fast; I want to drive in safety - and current policy denies me that.
Police Speeding 841So, you're happy for the police to unnecessarily put the public in danger? Places like Millbrook have every sort of road type and offer a chance to find out just how a car...
-- Geoff Lane Cornwall, UK
