MSN News - Jeremy Clarkson gets penalty points
Discussion
aw51 121565 said:
Who cares?
Watch this documentary and weep over the horrendous state of the UK economy: http://www.veoh.com/watch/v205926104rd9GssB?h1=Bri...
Note you can also download a copy if necessary.
Ought to mention that the 'Britain's Trillion Dollar Horror story' video was originally uploaded onto YouTube, but was blocked from viewing if you had an UK IP address!
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.rich888 said:
Well you should care because it's your taxes (assuming that you are working) that are paying for all these massively expensive camera systems to be installed and maintained.
Watch this documentary and weep over the horrendous state of the UK economy: http://www.veoh.com/watch/v205926104rd9GssB?h1=Bri...
Note you can also download a copy if necessary.
Ought to mention that the 'Britain's Trillion Dollar Horror story' video was originally uploaded onto YouTube, but was blocked from viewing if you had an UK IP address!
So are these speed cameras "revenue generation tools" or money pits? They can't be both. Watch this documentary and weep over the horrendous state of the UK economy: http://www.veoh.com/watch/v205926104rd9GssB?h1=Bri...
Note you can also download a copy if necessary.
Ought to mention that the 'Britain's Trillion Dollar Horror story' video was originally uploaded onto YouTube, but was blocked from viewing if you had an UK IP address!
Durzel said:
So are these speed cameras "revenue generation tools" or money pits? They can't be both.
Rather ironically I would say they are both 'revenue generation tools' and 'money pits' because these average speed cameras probably cost a fortune to install and maintain, all funded by the taxpayer.Clarkson quite rightly pointed out that the cameras were installed every few hundred yards to catch speeding motorists, not a very efficient way to spend taxpayers money is it?
Anyone travelling through Annesley in Nottinghamshire will notice perhaps five or six average speed cameras positioned probably every 100 yards along the high-street, why do this when they are 'average' speed cameras not GATSO cameras, surely two cameras would have been sufficient on the high street to catch the real idiots, and spread the rest of them further out across the area.
As for being 'revenue generation tools', yes they do suck money out of the local economy and send the money down south so that the politicians can go and squander the money raised on ever more silly projects. The fact is that if you get caught speeding nowadays, the minimum fine is £100. This money is no longer spent in the area. So what do you think that does to the local economy?
I'm all for introducing average speed cameras if done so in an rational manner to catch the nutters, but not to penalise motorists for petty indiscretions.
Furthermore, what I don't like to see is wasteful spending when there is no need for it. Unfortunately neither councils or government seem to understand efficiency, they only know how to spend other people's money on ever more grandiose projects to boost their self-worth. I bet they wouldn't be squandering the money on such lavish projects if they had to dip into their own pockets!
Finally, in order for this country to dig itself out of debt will require more than speed camera revenue, coffee shops, charity shops and ever more council jobsworths to enforce ever more petty legislation. It needs manufacturing to be encouraged across the country to manufacture products which can then be exported to the world as in Germany, which incidentally still allows motorists to drive as fast as they like on many parts of their autobahn. If speeding is so dangerous, why isn't everybody dead in Germany!
rich888 said:
As for being 'revenue generation tools', yes they do suck money out of the local economy and send the money down south so that the politicians can go and squander the money raised on ever more silly projects. The fact is that if you get caught speeding nowadays, the minimum fine is £100. This money is no longer spent in the area. So what do you think that does to the local economy?
On what economic scale do you think these are operating on, nationally and collectively? Have you looked up the figures? La Liga said:
n what economic scale do you think these are operating on, nationally and collectively? Have you looked up the figures?
I'm guessing that the economic scale of speed camera revenue across the UK runs into millions, I'm awaiting freedom of information requests for more localised figures but in the meantime figure that if I was fined £100 that would be £100 less than I would be spending in the local economy - multiply that by however many other motorists are fined from the area and there is the answer as to how much money won't be spent in the local economy.You seem to be quite focused with your questions, must ask do you work for government, work in the camera partnership or any related company or organisation, or have access to the figures?
He was actually caught speeding about 5 years ago, but the paperwork 'somehow' became lost and it was dismissed.
Hammond was caught jumping a red light in the older episode where they all bought old Porsches for £1500 I think. He was last in the convoy and jumped it to keep in formation with the others.
Hammond was caught jumping a red light in the older episode where they all bought old Porsches for £1500 I think. He was last in the convoy and jumped it to keep in formation with the others.
rich888 said:
I'm guessing that the economic scale of speed camera revenue across the UK runs into millions, I'm awaiting freedom of information requests for more localised figures but in the meantime figure that if I was fined £100 that would be £100 less than I would be spending in the local economy - multiply that by however many other motorists are fined from the area and there is the answer as to how much money won't be spent in the local economy.
The gross surplus for the treasury in 2006/2007 was 114 million. So about 2.6 million per SCP (although the standard deviation will be high for obvious reasons). The net surplus to the treasury is likely to be about 20% of that. The structure has since changed whereby a much larger proportion are dealt with by Speed Awareness Courses. If you're concerned about tax and the local economy, then a proportion will go to ltd companies who pay tax, and whose employees and Directors (likely) all pay tax. The employees of the SCPs naturally all pay tax and spend money in the LE, too. It's a bit of a money merry-go-round on a very small scale.
The summary is it's an economically irrelevant sum both locally and nationally. Research the scales of National Debt and annual revenue if you want to see why.
rich888 said:
Finally, in order for this country to dig itself out of debt will require more than speed camera revenue, coffee shops, charity shops and ever more council jobsworths to enforce ever more petty legislation.
Where has anyone proposed those things are being relied on to reduce the debt we have? I haven't seen them mentioned too much by the Bank of England over the past 8 years. Don't be too quick to dismiss coffee shops, the service industry makes up about 80% GDP.
Local Authorities are all contracting in size, too.
rich888 said:
If speeding is so dangerous, why isn't everybody dead in Germany!
We have fewer deaths per mile and per person on our roads compared with the Germans. Speed Badger said:
He was actually caught speeding about 5 years ago, but the paperwork 'somehow' became lost and it was dismissed.
IIRC there were complications around the S.172 request which resulted in no further action being taken. Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff