Speed Cameras
Smile!, you're $200 poorer
From time to time, I feel like donning my current affairs cereal box-journalism cap and delve into the deep issues. Right now, I’m focusing my attention of speed cameras. I don’t know anybody who believes that are effective methods of promoting road safety.
There is of course the whole ‘revenue raising’ argument, that lazy fatcats in the RTA ivory towers are thumbing wads of our cash, collected from speed cameras that are strategically placed in downhill areas, or where the official speed limit abruptly changes just before the radar.
Then there is the argument that speed cameras make us ever wary of our speed and when they are placed in high-accident zones, they will inevitably reduce accidents caused by speeding. Applying heavy fines is the ideal disincentive for speeding say the speed camera defenders.
Then there is my argument.
Speed cameras do make us think about our speed, but that’s not always a good thing. When people are wary of a speed camera, they will slow down, but they time their slowing down to the legal limit only when passing the camera. So going across a stretch of road, motorists will drive as normal with pace of the traffic, but upon approaching a speed camera (especially the downhill ones), everyone hits the brakes and stares at their speedometer. Nobody is concentrating on the road. Nobody slowing from 60 to 40 in a school zone ‘protected’ by a speed camera is concerned about the little kids that could potentially wander onto the road. Instead, they are concerned about getting their speed down just before the camera, and therefore are fixated on their speedo.
How can driving be safer when everybody is staring at that little needle?
Celebrity Obsession
And everyone hitting the brakes as they're coming up to a speed camera is a traffic hazard in itself. It irritates the hell out of me!