Once again, the bleating of motorists up and down the country sounds out, like car horns in a traffic jam. What has caused the latest recurrence of ‘driver’s drone’? Why, the outrageous suggestion that breaking the law in a little tin can on wheels is just as bad as breaking the law anywhere else.
But the papers who campaign about the unfairness of taxes on motorists seem to forget how many children die on the roads. Of course, you can blame the parents for not watching them, or the town planners for designing the road badly, but you can’t, it seems, blame motorists for exercising their God-given right to drive at the speed of their choosing in any area they see fit.
To quote but one of the many press articles, a recent leader column in the Telegraph bemoaned the fact that: ‘The real point is that most people drive their cars not because they are bad people who delight in pollution, but because they need to do so. They drive to work, to the shops, to pick their children up from school or to visit friends. In that sense, hostility to motorists is ultimately an attack on ordinary people and their values.’
Ah. So when motorists break the speed limit, drink and drive, skimp on their insurance or MOT, chat on the phone, obstruct other drivers, or injure people when behind the wheel of their precious car, they are simply doing what they must to get by….? Rubbish!
All the complaints about knowing where speed cameras are and the insistence that they be painted yellow or red or some other obvious colour is so much rubbish. Frankly, if you need to know that you’re approaching a speed camera so you can slow down, then you already know that you are breaking the law. The only people who need to know get photographed by a speed camera whilst breaking the speed limit, so if you don’t speed, you don’t get caught. And if you aren’t caught breaking the law, then the fine doesn’t apply.
Moaning about the amount of money you have to pay (having broken the law), the unfairness of sentencing (as a result of breaking the law) or the loss of your license when the points accumulated add up (for repeatedly breaking the law) cuts no ice with me.
The argument that ‘the law is an ass’ doesn’t work either. We all know that there are things we are required to do or restricted from doing which we might take issue with, but breaking the law rather than working to change it is simply unacceptable.
The issue is not the use of speed cameras but whether the limits they are enforcing are appropriate. Speed limits exist to enhance road safety; no other reason. Unfortunately, what is a safe speed depends on who is driving, the state of their vehicle, the traffic conditions and the weather.
Drivers seem to disregard the safety of anyone else, and then moan when they get penalised for it. All this guff about making speed cameras visible is nonsense. I say hide them, and let people learn the hard way that the speed limit is there for a reason.
The recent suggestion that a surcharge be made on speeding offences, amongst other crimes, to help fund victim support groups was met with howls from the motoring lobby. But if that is what it takes to drive home the reality of dangerous driving to car users, then it is a welcome step.
Martin Narey, director general of the Prison Service, has suggested that wannabe racing drivers be required to perform community service rather than serve time in prison. Lets see how many people enjoy being responsible for school crossings at morning rush hour, or helping out RTA victims in their local A&E. And how easy it is to deny the importance of safe driving after either one.