A recent survey by RoadPilot Ltd has discovered that the majority of British motorists think speed cameras make them worse drivers.
Its easy to say “well they would say that, wouldn’t they” but fact is that 1 in 3 drivers say they brake instinctively on seeing a speed camera, irrespective of the speed they are travelling. No one can argue that’s this isn’t anything other than dangerous, particularly for cars that are following behind them.
There are more than 5,000 of these things on our roads now, many hiding behind hedges and trees and over half of the drivers that responded to the RoadPilot research said they felt there was insufficient signage to notify them of the local speed limits.
It’s a funny old world when so many drivers believe that these cameras have an adverse effect on their driving, but I have to say, although I have a clean license and don’t knowingly aim to break the speeding laws, just like over a third of these drivers, I brake just to be sure, and yes, whilst I know that’s an irrational thing to do and I know its unsafe, that’s the way it is and I guess the powers that be will just have to live with it as a trade off to enabling them to keep dragging in the cash from basically honest people who just dare to stray over the stated limits.
Cameras might have a place, but fact is a 30mph, or a 70mph limit are exactly what they are and that’s irrespective of the time of the day, the weather conditions or the ability of the driver, or even the vehicle they are driving.
For sure we all agree that say a 20mph limit might be appropriate outside a school and maybe a necessity when the kids are coming and going, but at 3am in the morning on a warm summer’s night, it’s just irrational, so its hard to consider these limits have any credibility and its for that reason that so many people ignore limits generally and despise these road side spies that nick us on the grounds of safety, when for a great part of the time, its just not justified.
