On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 22:53:49 +0100, Martin Angove
wrote:



Speed may not be a major cause of accidents, but it sure as heck makes
what might be a close shave or a minor bump into something much much
worse. Poor junctions, poor signage, poor lighting and so on all
contribute, but breaking the speed limit is a pretty reliable sign of a
selfish attitude to sharing the road which can cause a lot of problems.

And your evidence is...

"Speeding is a victimless crime so why are the police hounding people
for it?" Grow up.

An example. There is a road near here which is absolutely straight for
nearly a mile. On a good day you can see from one end to the other.
People who don't know the road like to race down it.

Why? How? Who does the starters flag bit? Who does the timekeeping?


People who do know the road know that not only is there a hidden dip,
quite big enough to conceal a small car, but that there is a golf course
on both sides of the road and three or four places where golfers
regularly cross, there are also houses. To be honest, even 60mph can be
dangerous on this road. As it happens, there is no camera on the road,
though there are signs.

So there should be. That's it then.


As this road nears our house the speed limit reduces to 40mph.

Are we still in the hidden dip territory or not?

Very few
people take note of this limit and most of the time they will not have
any problems - but you try crossing it with a toddler or a pram as we
have to (no underpass, no bridge, no crossing, and the lights just up
the road are designed to maximise traffic flow and make crossing the
road at the lights *more* dangerous than crossing nearer our house) and
you will see what I mean by speeding being selfish.


Well then picket your local council for speed cameras, or your local
police, we did and we've got them. Meanwhile don't keep crossing the
road at the most dangerous point, have some sense, use the lights, do
as they told us at primary school 55 years ago cross the road where
it's safe to do so.

Cretin.


Given the fact that most speeders blithely ignore the limit,

It's not a given fact. How do you know this?

if the
possibility of cameras makes them think, then they can only be a good
thing. As I said before, it is emphatically *not* the cameras which
cause the accidents, it is those stupid drivers who see them and,
suddenly realising that they could get another three points on the
licence, slam out the anchors without thinking.

That's solely an issue for the driver of the car driving too close
behind. He is responsible for the consequences of any accidents. It is
not a concern for pedestrians with/without infants crossing the road
where it dips/doesn't dip, especially where there is a light
controlled crossing nearby.

If, however, you remember the speed limits and stick to them then speed
cameras can safely be completely ignored in the same way that if you
don't try to take a kilo of pot with you through customs you can safely
ignore the officers scanning your baggage.

There are people who have challenged statements such as that.
See: http://www.day-tripper.net/ztravelferrydaytrippers.html


The problem with preaching (as I seem to be doing) is that no-one is
perfect

You speak for yourself.

and so I hereby confess that there have been occasions in my
16-year driving career when I have broken the speed limit. Mostly
completely inadvertantly and immediately corrected, twice or three times
completely deliberately - but the deliberate cases were all on empty
stretches of motorway

As the song said "No, not ****ing much".

and I wouldn't have complained, though I would
have felt very stupid, if I'd been clocked.

I have never tried to take anything so much as a grain of tobacco
through customs :-)


But then you're a pratt.

Hwyl!

Latvian? This is an English language newsgroup.

SAES! ai blesi.

DG.