Monday, 27 July 2009
Dear Nanny - piss off!
Once again we have our Nanny state, bereft of any actual ideas on how to stop hooligans and idiot drivers, come up with a great system for punishing eveyone as an alternative to them being actually able to do what they are paid for -
You will see from the attached link that another reduction in speed limits is on the cards. As there are no traffic divisions left this leaves only one way to enforce it - ie more cameras.
Please click on this link and add your vote - if you have a mind to support it.
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7 comments:
Mrs Long Rider and I were out tooling around on the bike yesterday when we passed officers on each side of the road with radar guns waiting for some hapless taxpayer that might be 10 mph over the limit. It's always been my belief that in most circumstances most people will drive at whatever speed they feel safe and comfortable. Law enforcement time is better spent on the truly reckless drivers that endanger the lives of others around them.
I'm sure this bit of logic would completely befuddle most lawmakers but I think it's worth a trial run. Might even give officers more time to do police work.
100% KyLR. They are, sadly, the modern equivalent of the Highway Robber. I once wrote the annual `Traffic Plan` for my force and nowhere did it include cameras or speeding `targets`, unless the application to site them was accompanied by empirically sound reasons ie: "why there specifically? - show me the risk to public safety linked to speed". The guys and gals on the ground loved it - they were being given their judgement and discretion back. Sadly, those in the land above the clouds didn't follow through the following year (when I'd retired).
H - this proposal is particularly ridiculous when you see snippets of the research which shows that speed is rarely the biggest factor in accidents. Poor road layout is usually the major issue and, of course, lack of concentration.
Speed limits were originally introduced as a fuel-saving measure. I'm surprised that the anti-roads lobby haven't come up with "greenery" as the latest excuse to slow people down.
There are two elements to this plan IMHO. One is the desire to be seen to be "DOING SOMETHING" and who would argue against better road safety? The second is the desire for central control. In socialist utopia we would have uniform limits on every road, with a higher limit in the Zil lane of course.
Yes Blue, it is a sickening vision. QED: Thursday evening, I am in a 50 limit approaching a 30 limit. Hatchings to my offside close down the third `suicide lane` to leave just two lanes. I am turning right ahead, I indicate and wait for the hatchings to become the `right turn area. I get a supreme tosser come up behind me, sound his horn, flash his lights and attempt to overtake - I am now in a single lane so have nowhere to move over to - perhaps this twat thinks I can go vertical for him?. He gets alongside on the hatchings, realises there is a `Keep Left` bollard in front, locks up (it was raining) drops back and continues to lean on the horn as I make my right turn. Total, utter madness. No cameras to capture it. I'd get his reg number no problem, but don't bother because I know I'll need corroboration from independent witnesses. If I took my detailed and professionally crafted statement to the police, it would be binned because of this. That loon is a killer waiting to kill and we have no power in law to do a damn thing about it, but we do have the power to catch and fine people going over the speed limit.
The abuse and growing numbers of Big Brother cameras are undoubtedly a threat to freedom. I'd recommend installing millions of new CCTV cameras to look out for the system abusers.
Well said Nickie G. I considered pressing to have webcams surgically inserted into the forehead of every member of Parliament so we could see what they got up to, but then I figured that all we'd see would be images of their own arseholes.
LOL, Hogday. So many cameras might make one feel paranoid.
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