Speeders are SAFER drivers 622Dan White Bad form to alter quoted posts in that way to make a point, especially when you are wrong and HtH is correct. Oh...
...and Airbags, safety cages, crumple zones, seat belt pre-tensioners, Compulsory Basic Training, collapsible steering columns, ShellGrip, door reinforcing struts, deforming bumpers, ABS, hazard perception tests, ventilated brake discs, Armco barriers, tyre compounds, highway lighting...
Speed is only one *tiny* factor in the reason for the reduction in rests.
Speeders are SAFER drivers 621MrBitsy The offence of theft occurs at the point at which the thief decides to permanently deprive the shop of the shirt. There is no middle ground...
This has been done to rest many times over so I can't be arsed to dig out the figures again, but consider this:
At around the same time that speed cameras were introduced, large numbers of Traffic Police were rebuttigned to other duties. We now have only a fraction of the traffic officers there were 15 years ago.
Since the 1960's, the rate of traffic rests per driver mile had been falling at a fairly constant rate for around 25 years. Since the introduction of speed cameras and the reduction in traffic police, that rate has stabilized, and on one occasion even gone up, whilst the number of Fixed Penalty tickets issued for speeding has soared. Did drivers suddenly become worse overnight? Did something make them drive faster? Or perhaps the presence of Traffic Police actually had a positive effect on driving standards.
Speed Cameras can't tell if a driver is driving erratically, intimidating other road users, has defective lights-tyres. Outside of the traditional Christmas blitz, todays driver could go out and get poofaced then drive home with virtually no chance of being pulled over, as there are so few traffic police on duty.
Stopping speeding is not the panacea that the obsessives would have you believe. Improving driving standards and traffic officers exercising good judgement would bring a significant reduction in casualties. Unfortunately these things cost money and are a long term solution which means that politicians can't take the credit for them, so they don't happen. Cameras on the other hand bring in money and speed is easily measured (unlike poor driving), which is why speed is the *only* thing you hear politicians going on about. Lies and spin, as per f***ing usual.
Rant over, I'm going to go and drive perfectly safely at more than the posted limit.
-- Dan White Perform an exorcism when replying.
