17.7.08

Speed Camera Madness

Gordon Brown, Yesterday
This has been widely reported elsewhere and commented on by many bloggers but I would like to throw my view in too.
Now I drive, and I hate speed cameras; I feel I can travel safely and responsibly at a slightly elevated speed which enables me to get maximum performance from my car, the various emissions and from myself - not that I can drive my car much since it costs nearly £80 to fill up my tank nowadays (a Volve S40 by the way - a big, heavy car) which is money best spent keeping me from starving.
Now, having said I hate speed cameras my first reaction to the Metro article on my way to work earlier this week was "hurrah! rejoice! the revolution comes! watch as the public rise up against our state masters..etc..." then my cynic gland switched on and gave me a big, swift dose of reality - the following occured to me:
  • Had the money gone straight into the councils coffers, would they have readily wanted to close down this particular revenue pool?
  • Unlike the police, speed cameras catch people in the act of the particular crime they are being punished for, at the crime scene 100% of the time; the only arguement against speed cameras in this light is to increase the speed at which a ticket is issued to above the accepted speed limit slightly - someone being ticketed for going 34mph downhill in a 30mph zone when their speed reads in units of 10 is incredibly unfair and a recipe for criminalising and alienating law abiding citizens for what should penalise dangerous drivers.

The motive of Swindon Council should be addressed here; since they cannot get their hands in the cookie jar they've decided that their own source of biscuits should be cut off - this is not the beginnings of good policy and forgets that speed cameras are designed to curb the number of road deaths, not provide a revenue stream.

In Swindon Councils defence however, the blame really lies at Whitehalls door - consistent underfunding of the roads for years has meant that the monies raised by road tax, fuel duty and every other tax NuLabour wishes to milk our last remaining drop of money and human dignity for has been wasted on other nonsenses; now that the coffers are empty in the midst of an economic downturn NuLabour are viciously scrabbling around to find revenue sources for their insane projects, tax bungs and related guff. My guess is that those mythical "road safety grants" that Whitehall should've given Swindon to create safer roads have been spent on something pointless, ineffectual and completely unrelated.

Then again, its not unlike NuLabour to first take our money, lose it in storage, burn a little more, and then hand it back to some of us, perhaps getting some of it stolen or too much given by mistake...

4 comments:

Thatcher's Child said...

I totally agree with you.

If the funding to Swindon CC hadn't stopped, they wouldn't be crowing now!

End of!

That makes them hypocrites in my book. Although it may be double standards, never to sure how the definition works!

Tomrat said...

It is nice when our politicos bleat about the state of liberty in this country, the belief that we are guilty until proven innocent, or the huge amounts of tax taken to fund useless schemes and yes-men, but that, unfortunately, is all that they are doing - bleating; it will stop short when they have to make some difficult decisions about how much "liberty" they wish to grant us - would we hear these same cowards calling an immeadiate reduction in road duty and putting forward via their MP a petition to do so? methinks not.

Anonymous said...

Speed cameras, now they’re at it again - The liberal paternalists are proposing to ban the display of tobacco in shops and are currently soliciting the opinion of their electorate.

Banishing cigarettes will cost ordinary taxpayers more money, inconvenience thousands of consumers, and threaten the livelihoods of shopkeepers all over the UK.

I’m sick and tired of more of the same from Nanny - obsessed with dictating how people live their lives but sweeping the big issues, like knife crime and recession, under the carpet. They’re planning to hide tobacco, and they are already policing alcohol, red meat, fatty foods, and salt to name a few.

I’m sick of seeing pubs closing down where I live. I’m sick of being made to feel guilty because I eat and drink as I please. Don't they trust me to drive safely because I actually care?

I’m sick of Nanny. How about you? Register your support – Say NO to the Nanny State

Ceej

Anonymous said...

you are totally right sweden is totlaly right to ban speed camaeras they are so gay everyone should drive whatever speed they like kill the pedestrians i say pedestrian = pedofile have you evre seen a peedo in a car no they don't have licenses FACT