What are 'speed' cameras for 5424

Result!!! So you'll be a keen supporter of my campaign for the nationwide installation of noise cameras and-or speed microphones?

Seriously, I do think there are plenty of reasons why high-speed motoring is an antisocial activity. I'm quite happy to travel within the speed limit, but it can be very unpleasant when you're driving along and someone zooms up behind you and is impatiently waiting for an opportunity to overtake. High-speed traffic can also be extremely intimidating for pedestrians: if you have a long straight road with cars travelling along it at 50mph it can be really hard to find a safe opportunity to cross even if the traffic isn't very dense (the same applies to other drivers attempting to enter from side-roads). This is one case where the motorists are travelling "safely" at speed, but their safety is achieved by scaring other people out of the way (see another thread where someone is taking this approach to its logical conclusion by blaming the victim of a speeding motorist for their own rest). I think that this is one good reason for having limits and enforcing them. Note that this doesn't just apply in towns: there are plenty of rural roads where you can spend a long time (both as a pedestrian and a motorist) waiting to cross a road with fast traffic.

It also seems probable that people driving significantly faster than everyone else has a detrimental effect on road capacity. If arbitrary speeds were allowed on motorways, don't you think that maybe there would be a very small number of people travelling down the outside lane at enormous speeds and rendering it useless for all of the other people using the road?

A lorry at 56mph isn't exactly silent.

J.