| Tim Pollard, News editor, Autocar, argues that
education and better policing is a preferable alternative
to speed cameras |
One in six drivers now has
points on their licence |
 |
| “Falling numbers of traffic
cops are being caused by the growing reliance on the
robot at the side of the road” |
|
Autocar isn’t against speed cameras per se, we just worry
that this country’s Gatso gusto is spiralling out of control.
That’s why the magazine has teamed up with the RAC Foundation
to launch the Talking Sense on Speed campaign – and try
and inject some common sense back into the debate. There can be
no doubt that speeding issues are in the public eye more than
at any time in motoring history. Rarely a day goes by without
“speed” headlines in the newspapers or reports on
the telly. It isn’t a case of journalists whipping up public
feeling, there is, in fact, a real lack of confidence in the government’s
anti-speeding emphasis.
More and more people are being zapped by the growing forest
of Gatsos lining our roads, drivers who have had previously blemish-free
records. Motorists who may have had 20, 30 or more years of trouble-free
motoring make one minor indiscretion and end up with points on
their licence. Amazingly, neither the Department for Transport
nor the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency will say exactly how
many motorists in the UK carry points on their licence specifically
for speeding, so we commissioned some independent research from
NOP World. The findings revealed the true extent of the speeding
crisis in this country. One in six drivers now have points on
their licence, compared with one in 10 five years ago. Are drivers
getting worse? Or are we merely more likely to get caught now
that there are upwards of 5,000 cameras policing our roads? Our
concern is that cameras cannot police our road network safely.
Get flashed by a Gatso and you may not even realise you have been
done until the letter arrives in the post a fortnight later. By
then you will have forgotten when and where you were.
Compare that with being stopped by a policeman, who can use
his discretion to caution or fine you on the spot. All crimes
are best treated immediately, linking cause and effect. Falling
numbers of traffic cops are being caused by the growing reliance
on the robot at the side of the road. And the happy spin-off from
cameras? You rake in millions of pounds a year in revenue. It’s
no wonder that the public are losing confidence in road policy.
I should stress that Autocar doesn’t advocate a complete
abandonment of speed limits and the scrapping of every speed camera
in the land. Carnage would ensue. Sensible limits and camera use
are in all of our interests. We welcome speed traps in known accident
blackspots; lower speed limits on the most dangerous roads. Every
single one of the lives claimed on our roads is a waste and we
must try harder to reduce the injury toll.
However, representing thousands of our readers who have supported
our campaign, we know that most people suspect that current road
safety policy is skewed by a very vocal safety lobby, whose only
mantra is the knee-jerk “speed kills” message. They
back speed cameras and encourage lower limits everywhere. If no-one
can speed without being caught, then our roads will be a safer
place, they say. Wrong. At the root of our message is the call
for greater education. You could have a Gatso on every mile of
every road in Britain and you wouldn’t stop people being
killed every day on our roads. But educating drivers, offering
speed awareness courses if they are caught speeding and putting
more human speed detectors back on the beat might just do that.
A little common sense should be put back into the debate. Only
then can our roads become a safer place.
|
