someoneyouknowSpeed cameras in the UK
Speed cameras in the UK
In the UK the rise of the speed camera has been a serious growth industry over the past ten years or so, before then all us drivers needed to be careful of was the traffic police or the local constabulary with speed guns, and even then there was the unwritten rule of the road that compelled everyone to warned their fellow drivers of the speed trap ahead by flashing our lights and signalling a thumbs down to the on coming traffic, sadly those days have now disappeared into our driving history, along with driving gloves and flat caps.
So we now find that there are over 6000 speed cameras placed on roads around the country, these are supposed to be mainly accident black spots, but that is another subject up for debate at a later date. These so called safe drive measures have come in under the guise of creating a safer driving environment and in preventing accidents both with other vehicles and pedestrians, clearly nobody likes the prospect of hurting somebody crossing the road or walking along the path beside the road, but are speed cameras there to prevent accidents or more to the point fatal accidents, yet the accident figures are still rising, people are still being killed and injured on the roads, so the object of the exercise must be something else.
It is clear to see that speed cameras slow traffic down, but there main purpose must be to generate cash for the government, another type of tax on the drivers of the UK, amazingly the cameras raise over £20 million every year, which goes straight to the treasury and is then dispersed into financing what ever they want, but consider this, we are seeing people who have spent the whole life doing what is right, staying away from trouble, for most people the only contact they ever have with the police is through a traffic cop, who occasionally may have even just warned them of their misdemeanour and send them on their merry way, however now days the first thing that someone knows is when they get a letter from the authorities saying that you have been caught speeding and you have been fined £60 with three points put on your licence, that is a quarter of the way to getting a driving ban all for something that may have careless or just a simple mistake, speed cameras do not take anything into consideration, like the fact that the driver has never had any points on their licence for the twenty years that they have been driving.
What can be done about it? Well as it stands when you get the dreaded letter through the letter box, the authorities have carefully considered how to get their hands on your cash without any fuss or problems, how do they do this? Simple, they make you an offer that you cannot refuse, the offer is pay £60 now and get three points on your driving licence, its quick, its easy and relativity painless. The alternative is a court appearance which clearly unless there are certain circumstances such as an emergency etc or the like, the drive is looking at a fine of £1000 and 6 points on their driving licence, clearly most people will take the easy option of paying the £60 fine and the 3 points on the driving licence, £60 versus £1000 does not take a genius to work out the mathematics on that one.
So now for the answer of what to do about speed cameras. Nearly two million tickets are issued each year and nearly everyone is paid by the offer you can't refuse method, so wouldn't it be fantastic to see a peoples stand against the offer and all opt for the court appearance, can you just imagine the utter chaos that this would cause within the court system alone, how much would it cost? The chancellor would his £20 million a year and the courts would grind to halt under the pressure of the paperwork and just the shear volume of people moving through the system, it is just a thought on a subject that has grown over the years without any checking or tricky questions, it would just be nice, no, it would be interesting just to see what would happen, what would the government do, how would it all end...............
In the UK the rise of the speed camera has been a serious growth industry over the past ten years or so, before then all us drivers needed to be careful of was the traffic police or the local constabulary with speed guns, and even then there was the unwritten rule of the road that compelled everyone to warned their fellow drivers of the speed trap ahead by flashing our lights and signalling a thumbs down to the on coming traffic, sadly those days have now disappeared into our driving history, along with driving gloves and flat caps.
So we now find that there are over 6000 speed cameras placed on roads around the country, these are supposed to be mainly accident black spots, but that is another subject up for debate at a later date. These so called safe drive measures have come in under the guise of creating a safer driving environment and in preventing accidents both with other vehicles and pedestrians, clearly nobody likes the prospect of hurting somebody crossing the road or walking along the path beside the road, but are speed cameras there to prevent accidents or more to the point fatal accidents, yet the accident figures are still rising, people are still being killed and injured on the roads, so the object of the exercise must be something else.
It is clear to see that speed cameras slow traffic down, but there main purpose must be to generate cash for the government, another type of tax on the drivers of the UK, amazingly the cameras raise over £20 million every year, which goes straight to the treasury and is then dispersed into financing what ever they want, but consider this, we are seeing people who have spent the whole life doing what is right, staying away from trouble, for most people the only contact they ever have with the police is through a traffic cop, who occasionally may have even just warned them of their misdemeanour and send them on their merry way, however now days the first thing that someone knows is when they get a letter from the authorities saying that you have been caught speeding and you have been fined £60 with three points put on your licence, that is a quarter of the way to getting a driving ban all for something that may have careless or just a simple mistake, speed cameras do not take anything into consideration, like the fact that the driver has never had any points on their licence for the twenty years that they have been driving.
What can be done about it? Well as it stands when you get the dreaded letter through the letter box, the authorities have carefully considered how to get their hands on your cash without any fuss or problems, how do they do this? Simple, they make you an offer that you cannot refuse, the offer is pay £60 now and get three points on your driving licence, its quick, its easy and relativity painless. The alternative is a court appearance which clearly unless there are certain circumstances such as an emergency etc or the like, the drive is looking at a fine of £1000 and 6 points on their driving licence, clearly most people will take the easy option of paying the £60 fine and the 3 points on the driving licence, £60 versus £1000 does not take a genius to work out the mathematics on that one.
So now for the answer of what to do about speed cameras. Nearly two million tickets are issued each year and nearly everyone is paid by the offer you can't refuse method, so wouldn't it be fantastic to see a peoples stand against the offer and all opt for the court appearance, can you just imagine the utter chaos that this would cause within the court system alone, how much would it cost? The chancellor would his £20 million a year and the courts would grind to halt under the pressure of the paperwork and just the shear volume of people moving through the system, it is just a thought on a subject that has grown over the years without any checking or tricky questions, it would just be nice, no, it would be interesting just to see what would happen, what would the government do, how would it all end...............
