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Speeding is not dangerous per se - innappropriate speeding however is and thats where the government should focus its efforts. I am a habitual speeder on wide open roads rarely driving at under 100mph when I can however once I enter a built up area or roadworks or whatever I adjust my speed accordingly to account for the conditions and ciccumstances.

If the "safety camera pertnerships" concentrated on the hardcore small element who dont slow down on entering built up areas etc and not on catching the mum coming back from doing her shopping who does 36 in a 30 or someone doing 80 on a dual carriageway then they might have more public support but as it is thats just another tax being levied on motorists and its wrong and its why nearly everyone hates speed cameras and everything that they stand for.

The guidelines concerning cameras (both mobile and fixed) are that they should be placed at accident blackspots to help reduce injury and or death and that there main purpose is meant to be deterence yet I know of numerous cameras placed on dual carriageways where there has never been any accidents that I know of just because the police know that its a long open straight piece of road and even non habitual speeders can easily drift into points territory or how about all the cameras hidden behind signs or trees or just over the brows of hills or another example which is very prevalent where I live is police in vans with cameras pointing out the back parked just around a corner hidden from view as you come from a 60 to 40 zone, thats not accident prevention, thats pure revenue generation as they know they will get the majority of drivers going over the limit however small that may be.

Jay

It also doesn't help that the local Camera Partnership reduce the speed limit from say 60 to 40 then stick a camera up and complain about the number of people snapped speeding!

The addition of speed cameras anywhere has a negative effect on our roads. On the approach to a camera the adverage driver takes his eyes off the road for anything up to 30 secs, not to mention the "panic" braking and sudden acceleration after the camera.

What we need is more traffic police to catch the increasing trend of bad driving - mobile phones, lane hogging, drink driving and the like. A camera will NEVER catch these the worst offenders!

Well there's my 2 pence! lol!

We do live in a strange society, on the one hand the economy is bouyant because everyone is buying nice motors, then as soon as you part with your ?30,000+ as I have, you get fucked by the very same society! tax, insurance, speed traps, cameras, petrol prices bla bla..... I agree with Jay, and some of what the officer say,s, I do speed when I think I can get away with it, because my car will do the national limit in 2nd gear, it,s crazy isn,t it? whats the alternative? all drive fully enclosed milk floats with no personality, flair, design, but if your gonna speed, you have to face the consequences, or hire a driver, which I have done as well, it,s a fucked up country alright, then there,s the issue of 'caps' people who drive at 30 regardless of the speed limit and conditions, this should be an offence, if your caught doing 30 in a 50 zone, for no other reason than you cant be arsed to go any faster, you should get your licence endorsed, and legs amputated, or is that a bit harsh of me?

Well what a lot of responses! I sent the form off, I think I'll just pay it, I cant be bothered with the hassle of trying to worm out of it. Ive managed to avoid paying debts and bailiffs in the past, but for sixty quid I have better things to do!

If government were really serious about saving lives they would put speed limiters on cars...as it is there are cars made that can do 70 in 2nd gear..its bollocks but they have to be seen to seen to care....

Imposing actual speed limits is wrong - and what we see nowadays is the result of it. Very few people actually know how to drive well, it's a skill that's dying fast. I only look at my speedo so I don't get nicked, apart from that I don't really need it. As an intelligent human being, when I drive I am constantly judging the conditions which therefore dictate how fast and it what manner I drive (and sometimes it's well below the speed limit, other times it's greater than) - the "safety camera" brainwashing is quickly eroding (along with many other things society imposes onto us) our actual ability to make desicions based upon ones own good judgement - and nowhere is this more noticeable than on the road. Accidents are caused by bad desicion making when driving - and try as they might (and they are trying their best) sometimes people make mistakes, and that is unavoidable.

I've only ever had one real speeding ticket, issued by a policeman with a speed gun. He basically admitted he was only there to do as many people as he could to pacify local whingers who had put in complaints at how fast traffic was going past their houses. I made a point of driving as fast as I could past those houses for the next 3 years - the speeding ticket didn't make me drive any safer, I just drove worse and faster on more occasions to get my get some satisfaction from the points on my license, only I was a bit more careful about coming too fast round corners or over a hill, where a speed trap could be concealed.