Police Like speed Cameras But....

Today, the belief that speed is more than a contributory factor in most accidents can only be held by those with vested interests. Common sense suggests that if any one or more of the following few is going on then sooner or later there will be an accident’: inattention/distraction, disregard for others and aggression, risk taking, impatience, incompetence and stupidity. Speed? Not really. Clearly, that might affect damage/injury, so there may be an effect, certainly, but the cause? Not speed.

Some say there is no difference between a camera and a live officer. However, I’d choose the latter any day. You can converse with him/her, even if the conclusion is: "you’re nicked". A serious ticking off (even with a fine) may do some good. It is a far more positive event and could leave you (irritated but) with a feeling that the prospective fine payment has been earned and justified. But a speed camera is a dead-head. Being a tin-can copper, it only sees things on the road in black and white. But it is capable of initiating a rather de-humanising experience: you cannot, in all honesty, talk to it(!), and it doesn’t listen, anyway; you cannot explain; and it cannot choose to give you a metaphorical clip round the ear and send you on your way; stealthily, it nicks you regardless, 10mph or 1mph too fast. All this is compounded by the machined missive which arrives later from the so-called ‘Safety Unit’ - as if the speed was THE safety issue. See above, it was not.

And, because there is such a preponderance of cameras, those who are caught making innocent mistakes are treated like hardened criminals, as if that was a choice which they had made. Even those who make no mistakes are treated as if they are about to (in the case of CCTV, particularly). Naturally, most of us leave home in the morning with lawful intention. However, riding/driving requires such focussed concentration these days that it is all too easy to miss a vital sign. And then, to make matters worse, your insurance company gets all upset too. Electronics has a role, but cameras are not the way forward.

As to the money, the advent and blossoming of speed cameras must be like a gift of ever-increasing plenty; and the proportionate public hatred of them ought not to be simply brushed aside. Bureaucracies, from the top to the tiny, are hungry for cash; they want more and with some fervour they guard it and spend it. They will not give up this one without a fight. The thing is, we really do value our officers, so when all is said and done, blame the politicians!

Some say that cameras are a necessary evil in our society which we must put up with. However, an evil is never something that we should put up with. It is best rooted out in all its forms, where at all possible. . In its speed and CCTV versions, the camera effects a form of oppression and is certainly evil. Will no-one rid us of this turbulent beast?

And what about those one million-odd people (I understand) who bother neither to road tax nor insure? I reckon that they are happily motoring around making fools of the rest of us, knowing exactly what they can expect: peace of mind; and the knock on the door? Never.