[Sussex] Copywrite and the Old Woman ...

[Richie Jarvis]

Mark Harrison (Groups) wrote:
> On Sat, 2005-07-09 at 23:59 +0100, Geoff Teale wrote:
> 
>>The interesting thing here is that speed cameras do work.  I slow 
>>down for them. 
> 
> 
> It's interesting that you are using the colloquial term "speed cameras"
> for them, and therefore concluding that they work.
> 
> Were you to use the technically correct term "safety cameras", then you
> would, perhaps, be forced to conclude otherwise.
> 
> One of the most shocking graphs I ever saw was the DECLINE in road
> deaths from 1950-2000. The line went down at a relatively steep angle
> until a particular point, at which point it noticeably got shallower. 
> 
> That is to say, the number of deaths still declined, but the rate of
> decline was lower than before, or put another way, the "road safety"
> policies were still effective but nothing like as effective as the
> previous policies.
> 
> The date of the kink in the line coincided with the change in policy
> away from "safety and skill" to "speed kills".
Personally, I have no problem with them, as long as they are properly
placed, i.e. in villages and outside schools where they actually do alot
of good.  However, those seem to be the rarest sort of cameras on our
roads - most of them are placed in the accident blackspots - and alot of
those blackspots are places where doing the speed limit is not advisable
anyway.

The thing that really ticks me off however, is the lack of police
presence on our roads - just because cameras are in place to capture ONE
offence doesn't mean that the force can be reduced - yet that is exactly
what has happened - a number of police forces have actually scrapped
their highway patrols as a result, and to me, that is disgusting.

As some of you know, I ride a motorbike, and I do alot of miles around
this fair county of ours - the amount of non-speeding related offences I
see everyday is staggering - mostly people driving 3 inches from my back
wheel when I am sticking to the speed limit - something which I do
whilst in a restricted limit (de-restricted is another matter however!)

Speed doesn't kill, it is the inability of drivers (and riders) to
correctly judge the road ahead and the road conditions that kills.

The talk of satellite tracking also gives me the willies - what a very
stupid idea - they have even talked about remotely controlling the speed
of the vehicle so that it is incapable of speeding - now that,
especially for a motorcycle, is a very very dangerous thing to do -
imagine the consequences of taking a corner at just over the limit, and
having your bike slowed down remotely whilst half-way through the bend -
instant accident.

Anyway, enough of a rant from me - am going to bed now - enjoy all!

Cheers,

Richie