Flashing signs are the way forward. Its very logical really. When I am approaching a village in the middle of nowhere, especially at night and suddenly a bloody great sign lights up I see it as a friend - its reminding me of the speed limit there and warning that there may be houses or a junction or something up ahead that I should slow down for. Not only this, I know that because it has no camera, THERE IS NO ULTERIOR MOTIVE. I can choose to be a tw*t and speed through the speed limit area, or slow down and heed advice from a totally impartial sign. The sign has no interest in banning me from the road or fining me because Im driving at a speed which may be over the limit. The only possible reason for the sign being there is to slow me down - therefore I respect the sign and slow down. Even on roads that I know like the back of my hand, I still slow down for those light-up signs and maintain extra vigilance for cars pulling out in front of me, pedestrians etc.
With a speed camera its completely the opposite situation. The amount of times the police have tried to stitch me up, prosecute me without evidence except a photo of the rear of a car with the same plates as mine, Ive just had enough. That yellow b*****d box on the side of the road infuriates me, I know for a fact its there for nothing but money making, everytime I see one of those Safety Camera Partnership tw*ts on the telly who are only interested in perpetuating their cosy little self-financing scheme I want to smash their face in. When I see a speed camera I brake hard for it, then go off on my merry way at my previous speed. If theres anyone on here who doesnt like it, tough sh*t. I havent been involved in any kind of accident for years, and the last time I was, it was at 5mph on a busy crossroads amongst multiple cars that nudged each other because of a traffic lights/priority problem. When it rains or theres low visibility, I slow down to a a lot less than most other drivers on the roads simply because Ive been driving long enough that I have a very realistic idea of how quickly my brakes will haul me up. If the roads are clear I drive as fast as I feel comfortable with. If its somewhere Ive never been before I go relatively slow because I never know whats around the corner. I drive expecting someone or something to jump out in front of me. That way I dont have any accidents. Why the f**k should some jumped-up c**k who has a vested interest in clocking up speeding fines with their camera, because otherwise they will be out of a job, tell me how fast to drive. Thats for me to decide, in conjunction with the guidance from the various speed limits. Sometimes in bad conditions its crazy to do 70 on a motorway, 40 would be more appropriate. Other times, in the dead of night on a clear road, why not do 120?
The bottom line is, if they were that interested in slowing down speeders they would be spending the millions that they line their pockets with on proper road engineering measures - identifying genuine blackspots and increasing visibility, rearranging approaches to busy junctions, utilising modern high-grip road surfaces etc. But of course that would mean spending money on something that wouldnt see any return. If speed cameras did their job and slowed everyone down, they would not have any work to do. Therefore as the Parnerships are completely self-financing, the arseholes who work there would be out of a job, the traffic units who use the money to pay their everyday operational costs would be skint again, the knobs who sit in mobile unit vans all day eating doughnuts and catching motorists would be on the dole, the CPS would no longer be able to boast so many successful convictions (cos God knows they havent got the skill to convict real criminals, so the general public will have to do, cos they dont know how to defend themselves in court and dont get legal aid), the speed hump and obstacle course firms who make a fortune out of road-calming would suddenly find no-one was willing to pay for them to constantly do pointless roadworks on the same stretches of road over and over again, even the camera companies themselves who make fortunes would go bust. A whole self-made industry of useless idiots who are a complete waste of space to society would have to go back on the dole.
Or of course, they could continue to manipulate the figures and push their lies on us so that it doesnt all come crashing down around them. Look at the truth, not the selected facts that they see fit to publish. Explain why deaths in Essex are up this year yet they are the county with the most speed cameras? Oops they forgot to mention that one didnt they? Doesnt really suit their purposes, people might think that safety wasnt actually their aim. Of course, neither do they mention that while deaths and serious injuries that they quote so proudly that have been lowered, are only at highly localised camera sites, they have simply shifted the problem to other areas and made it worse - the fact that deaths and injuries are getting worse overall every year doesnt figure, because all they have to do is maximise their own income. b******s.
[Edited by Nick Read on 19 June 2004 at 1:28pm]