Angry, bloody angry. That was me yesterday. I thought I’d exceeded my quota of anger when it comes to speed cameras and then the Government published their report into speed cameras.
Made me bloody angry it did. As can be expected these days most media outlets reported the ‘facts’ with the sensationalist headlines provided by the Government. “100 lives saved”, “Deaths down 40%” etc, etc, bloody etc.
Then in the House of Commons Tony Blair told us that speed cameras now save 800 lives a year! It beggars belief how ill-informed he is. I was so angry about that, I couldn’t bring myself to write an article about it!
The media took great delight in Tony and George not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The whole issue built up to a point where the press delighted in pointing the finger and exposing the lies that the public were told to justify the Government’s actions.
Yet here we are with the most transparent set of data ever and few journalists could be bothered to look beyond the headlines and fatuous quotes from Captain Darling. Makes me bloody angry you know.
The spreadsheets available on the Department for Transport’s website show how desperate the Government are to prove the case for cameras. Not for one moment am I suggesting that there aren’t cameras that are well placed and serving a useful purpose but the ‘evidence’ put forward to justify the majority is fanciful at best. ‘Statistical’ evidence in some way endorsed by the University College of London can be picked apart by anyone with a CSE in woodwork.
Naeively we thought we might get “Deaths 3 years before camera placement” versus “Deaths 3 years after camera placement”.
Instead in some cases we were presented with deaths in the last three months versus the average deaths per quarter for a three year period. No deaths in the last three months? 100% improvement. The “43%” improvement in Thames Valley could be spotted as cherry picked data by a Romanian fruit picker.
Luckily the farce has seen some anti-camera groups get some coverage in the media. Representatives from the ABD have been given lots of air time this week which can only be a good thing. What angers me though is that the only argument interviewers seem to come up with is that if you’re anti-camera then you want to ‘speed’ and put children’s lives in danger.
Firstly I don’t believe for a moment that all pro-camera motorists observe the speed limit 100% of the time. The accusations of ‘law breaker’ are constantly thrown at motorists complaining about speed cameras, yet I suspect the level of hypocrisy we see here is immeasurable.
And what finally takes me to the edge of bursting point is the assumption that in some way I don’t care about safety because I’m anti-speed camera. DON’T BE STUPID! I’m so bloody angry because I do care about safety and yet thousands of people and millions of pounds are wasted enforcing a policy that is having almost no effect whatsoever.
Where are cameras catching lorry drivers on the phone? Where are cameras catching drivers incapable of pulling out of a junction without driving into another car? Where are cameras catching drivers showing off to their mates? Where are cameras catching the inept, the incompetent and the downright ignorant motorists who shouldn’t be allowed on our roads? Where are the cameras catching people not wearing seatbelts? Where are the cameras catching people too tired too drive? Where are the cameras catching the increasing number of drink drivers?
No one will ever succeed at making everyone drive at 20mph in case they crash so perhaps we should stop people crashing…
800 people haven’t been spared, deaths aren’t down 40%. The death rate on our roads has been stagnant since cameras were introduced. The obsession with speed is resulting in deaths and the Government is too pig headed to admit that it’s pursuing the wrong policy. People are dying every day on our roads and we’re doing nothing about it.
Every day that Darling wastes cooking the books sees more people die on our roads. That’s not what I expect of a transport minister that’s supposed to represent the interests of the people of this country.
Bin the binary law enforcement and apply some common sense. Robocop ain’t up to the job...