Speeding and the Law

I

’m now past being amazed by some peoples’ views on speeding. There are many laws to protect the stupid and no law against being stupid. So lets reiterate the one key fact here: to break the speed limit is to break the Law. It doesn’t matter if it was safe to do so or otherwise.

It doesn’t matter if you think that the speed limit in question is pointless, nor does it matter if it is three o’clock in the morning and there was nobody else about. If you truly believe, that strongly, that a given 30 mph speed limit is inappropriate, the solution is not to go through it at 50, because that’s what feels about right, but to write to the council about it. I’ve queried speed limits in the past and in three out of four cases, I’ve had a letter giving a solid reason for the limit in question. In one case, I received a telephone call rather than a letter. These reasons varied from the close proximity of various corner shops, a series of nasty accidents including fatalities, or similar.

Many people consider that speeding on a motorway is a lesser offence than speeding in a village. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but it is still breaking the law. And as you can see here, even law abiding citizens get tailed by police cruisers from time to time.

Some individuals give off the impression that they rate their own driving abilities beyond that of other people by the way they disregard the speed limits. Whilst they may be good drivers in the technical sense, or perhaps they have never had an “accident,” so they might argue that they were safe, but are they good law-abiding drivers? I don’t think so. Worse, still, is that some of these individuals are proud to be Advanced Drivers. Odd, then, that part and parcel of being an Advanced Driver is to not break the speed limits.

There is the argument that modern cars are quicker, more economical, quieter and safer than the cars of the 1960s. One look through the Datasheet shows that the slowest car (in terms of maximum speed) will still reach 78 mph, which is higher than the motorway speed limit. The average maximum speed is 121 mph - that’s double the National Speed Limit of 60 mph. Some people argue that it is difficult to tell how fast they are going in a modern car, because it is quiet, and so it is not their fault. This is, of course, complete nonsense, because all cars - powerful and quiet, or slow and noisy - come with a speedometer, which tells the driver of their speed, and a device for varying the power of the engine (usually a foot pedal) with a variable setting, all the way from OFF to FULL. They should also come with a driver equipped with a brain, but this seems to be an optional extra these days.

Unfortunately, modern cars are safer. Unfortunately? Yes, because the safer the car, the more dangerous the driver tends to be. Airbags, side impact bars, anti-locking brakes, traction control, stability control and “intelligent” protection systems just seem to encourage drivers to try them out.

If we all had a sharp five inch spike set into the steering wheel boss, we’d all probably drive with a lot more care and respect for the damage we could cause.

I’ve not owned a powerful car, but I have had the fortune of driving a few. I’ve never found it to be a problem in keeping to the 30 mph speed limit, Even in the 736i automatic that I borrowed for an afternoon, it was perfectly possible to trickle about town at or under 30 mph. The Saab 9-5 Aero Estate was happier in second at 30 rather than third gear, but was drivable at these speeds - clever devices, these gearboxes.

Speed in itself doesn’t cause “accidents.” Driver error of some sort almost always plays a part. What speed does is both exaggerate that error and make the driver more likely to err. Misjudge a given bend at 45 mph and you might scare yourself, or an oncoming driver. Misjudge that same bend at 75 mph and you have a much greater chance of going off the road, or running into the oncoming driver. Drive at a speed such as the one illustrated here (e-mail me if you want the story!) on a public road and you’re asking for trouble.

If you disagree with any of the above, heh, tough, you’re wrong /joke/ but by all means, take the argument to uk.rec.cars.misc. Speeding is a very emotive thing, and always draws lots of responses. There’s nothing like a good argument, now, is there?

If you’d like to see what a speeding notice looks like, click on this image here.

And then there are speed cameras... no, no sorry, Safety Cameras

A “safety camera” is triggered by a vahicle exceeding a given speed, which it’s claimed is a few miles per hour over the speed limit. This implies that driving past at or below the speed limit is safe, whereas as soon as you step over the trigger limit, you become dangerous. And that of course is complete and utter drivel.

To consider a hypothetical situation where a safety camera will be triggered if the vehicle passes it over 33 miles per hour. A driver could be mushed on beer and magic mushrooms, be talking on the ‘phone sending an email on a BlackBerry but no, he or she is safe if their speed is at or under 33 miles per hour.

The vehicle could go past the camera sideways or backwards but providing the speed is at or under 33, it’s okay, it’s safe.

The vehicle could go past the camera at night with no headlights but providing the speed is at or under 33, it’s okay, it’s safe.

The vehicle could go past with four bald tyres and no brake fluid but providing the speed is at or under 33, it’s okay, it’s safe.

So on and so forth.

It is, of course, gibberish. When are these cameras going to be called what they really are - Speed Cameras or Revenue Generation Cameras?