Friday, 2 October 2009

Average Speed Cameras and Road Safety

I was thinking of writing to my local MP about the standard of driving on the roads. I don't drive a massive amount, mostly just to work and back (20 mile round trip) but I do notice that there is a lot of shoddy driving. There is a basic problem with our system. The Driving Standards Agency run the Driving Test but people can keep taking it until they are lucky enough to scrape past and then that's it. They can drive any car they want (or can insure) pretty much forever. If they are bad drivers, it cannot be picked up until they have a serious accident and even then, not necessarily. In America, the land of the free, you have to take regular tests to renew your licence, something which although might be annoying is the minimum you could do to ensure people are safe drivers. Other things you could do is limit the number of tests somebody could take in one year or perhaps have an extended test for anyone who either fails too many times or fails in a major way.
I then came into work and saw that Wales are planning on using more mobile average speed cameras. Now generally we cannot complain about equipment that enforces the law but I want to compare two scenarios, one based on what I see on the roads and the other based on somebody speeding in Wales.
1) Mr A drives at an average of 40 mph in a 30mph limit at night when there is no other traffic or people around: Fined £100 and given 3 points. Insurance is increased because they are 'dangerous'
2) Mr B overtakes on blind corners, drives too close to the person in front, uses their handheld mobile while driving, doesn't indicate, straight-lines the roundabouts, pulls out very close to people causing them to slow down, doesn't really pay attention to what is happening around them and drives in an agressive manner although within the speed limit: Nothing at all. No fine, no points, no conviction, no insurance increase (unless you are the 1 in 50000 people who actually get caught by a police officer).

That is the problem I have with Police Policy that is aimed almost entirely on speed and speed cameras. Unless there are ways that the police catch general bad driving or put in a system that ensures that people at least know how to drive properly, there is a problem!

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