Zero tolerance speed cameras to are to raise money for the police:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... rways.html


But the police will not investigate real crime:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... stead.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... chief.html

So why do the police require any money at all?

I think we are seeing the end of law and order as we've come to expect it, and paid for it.

If you don't want to pay the fines then don't speed.

Simples

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Lets be careful out there !

Not quite so simples. Speed limits have been reduced all over the place to ridiculously low levels... for example, the A40 heading out of London. It's very difficult to do 40mph on a huge three lane A road.

I think the A40 will be fairly easy once the fines start. Drivers will all, or mostly, start to obey the limit so it will be easy to keep pace. On motorways in Specs zones I just set cruise control, where appropriate and let the car keep it's own speed.

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Lets be careful out there !

Well they are but it's insane.

Is it any wonder that we the public are so cynical about 'the authorities' and their motives ...... ?

Before the advent of Gatso speed cameras and handheld laser speed guns, in the pre-Agenda 21 days of relative freedom, it was normal practice for local authorities to set road speed limits according the 80 percentile. The 80 percentile being the speed below which 80% of drivers would drive at naturally on a given road. It used to be considered that the 80% of drivers would naturally drive at a speed that suited the prevailing road conditions.

Then came the UN's Agenda 21 and speed cameras. Agenda 21 is anti-freedom from beginning to end. Speed cameras were conceived as a means of raising money from drivers who were naturally driving at a speed that 80% of drivers were comfortable at driving, at, or below.

With Agenda 21 came an enormous outbreak of controlling political correctness, where local authorities have been persistently encouraged to reduce all speed limits in line with the UN's Agenda 21; at the same time trapping drivers who were naturally driving at speeds they considered perfectly safe. Now local authorities seem to regularly reduce all speed limits by 10 mph whenever the fancy takes them.

I can remember driving from London to Birmingham when the M1 was new and there was no speed limit on it. Providing the car was capable of it, it was not uncommon to drive at speeds of around 100 mph on the new M1. Then came Mrs Barbara Castle MP, a minister for transport who could not, and never had driven anything; she imposed the first 70 mph limit on motorways. From that time on things have gone steadily downhill for the driver who is able to think for himself. Now we are compelled to drive by numbers.

From the early days of the Gatso camera, motorists have rightly perceived the speed camera as a money raising device. The police, local authorities, and central governments have always denied that speed cameras were about raising money. It has be consistently claimed by authorities and specialist pressure groups that speed cameras are “safety devices”. However, this latest report from the Bedford Police has confirmed that speed cameras ARE there to raise money; in Bedford's case, £1 million per year on the M1 alone; at last, the truth is out. Sadly, we now have a generation that has been brainwashed into believing that driving by numbers is safer than reading the road, thinking for oneself, and making decisions based on the prevailing conditions.

The slogan “Speed Kills” is an over simplistic statement that doesn't have very much truth attached to it. If speed kills then every airline passenger would be dead on arrival. What really kills is thoughtless and careless driving – and speed cameras aren't capable of capturing those deficiencies in any driver. The real killer is not 'speed', it is the G forces encountered when stopping far too quickly for the human body to withstand.

That's fascinating Westonman, and I think I recall you explaining this some years ago. Safe drivers can judge a safe speed and there's no doubt that many speed limits are being set unnaturally below what is safe.

One of my brothers was caught out recently on a stretch of road in Surrey where for a short distance the limit has been reduced, quite needlessly, from 40 to 30. He was clocked at 38 and has to go on - and pay for - a speed awareness course.

I would just add that in 35 years of driving he has never once hit anybody or anything, which suggests he's a safe driver and doesn't need an expensive course.

Jon, yes I have previously explained all this before, and on other sites too.

Not only are speed limits now being set unnaturally below what is safe, in my opinion unnaturally low speed limits can actually increase the risks to road users.

We humans need stimulus to keep us alert, I agree that the level of stimulus varies between individuals – which is where the 80 percentile is so effective; and driving below the level of a maintained stimulus increases the risk of drivers losing of attention on the roads.

The fact that large numbers of drivers can be seen using mobile phones; also it is very common to see a driver looking left and talking to his/her passenger whilst driving, these observations all suggests that a very low level of concentration is in effect on our roads. Occasionally the opposite situation can be seen on the roads, where a driver is clutching the steering wheel in a grip of fear, with their head and eyes transfixed ahead as if terrified.

Regarding your brother's recent experience of being trapped at 38 mph in a reduced speed limit stretch; this is a trap that is very likely to catch all of us out at some time. Which is where the mantra “if you don't want to pay the fines then don't speed” breaks down. Unnaturally low speed limits reduce our level of concentration and alertness, which increases the risk of being trapped in the way your brother has been.

The truth is; a lot of officialdom hate us with a vengeance, and not just we motorists, they hate everybody who doesn't see the world through the same sad spectacles that they themselves do. They prattle on about hate crimes, but they themselves are constantly motivated by hatred. The situation will continue to get much worse in the coming because the ruler of this world is filled with hatred.

I thought it was " Tom Fraser" who introduced the 70 mph speed limit.