I hear so many arguments against the need to have these systems. Years ago, if you were speeding, an officer would follow you and depending on their mood, your stupidity and your attitude they would deal with you by caution or worse.
I have had some form of detection since the mid 80’s; currently using a Road Pilot with 2x Laser + 1x Radar. The net result is I hate the damn things going off so I drive below the limit, but it is a fact, that some cameras are set very close to the roads speed limit and that 3-4mph over the limit is all it takes to get a few points.
I would argue that these devices do a better job at making people aware of their speed than the cameras do and that as soon as they make them illegal [non GPS] that someone will find a way around the law.
Personally I would love to see a complete overhaul of the law:
• 20mph around schools and side streets
• 30mph in all other town areas
• 40mph on non town roads or dual carriageways in town areas
• 60mph on open non motorway roads
• 90mph on motorways in light traffic
• Unlimited when you are the only fool on the motorway [midnight – 6am]
o These last two being that people who drive really fast already exceed these limits and don’t care about the law anyway, but most people hover around the 75mph – 85/90mph mark already.
o In the early hours of the morning, when there are virtually no police cars out on the motorways and also very light traffic, then people who are going to drive very fast will do it anyway.
Now as I live in Reading, and Reading University is the heart of Road Rage/Driving Psychology, I would love to see some of that money they get in from fines spent, 1, on better roads so my low profiles don’t suffer and 2, making everyone who is over 21, had a licence for longer than 2 years, be made to do both advance driving skills/test; and then to be made to refresh and retest every 4 years.
In a nutshell, would you fly in an aeroplane with a pilot that has had a pro rata amount of flying skills/time as a new driver. I don’t think so.
