Four wheels bad.......
Discussion
www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/03/31/dl3102.xml
Four wheels bad
(Filed: 31/03/2006)
The motorist is being turned into a criminal. New figures from the Home Office show that in 2004, 466 offences were dealt with for every thousand vehicles licensed. This proportion of almost one crime for every two vehicles makes a mockery of the law.
Respect for the law has long been a welcome hallmark of British attitudes. Now motorists - and that means most of us - see real criminals getting away with it, while peaceable citizens are bombarded with fixed penalties or worse.
Shopkeepers in Bournemouth were surprised recently to receive letters telling them not to bother calling the police if goods worth less than £75 were stolen. The letter was not authorised by senior officers, but it no doubt reflected attitudes among the police. Theft or drug crime are not seen as worth pursuing, while motorists are a golden goose.
Speed cameras are notionally intended to improve road safety. But a statement from Stephen Ladyman, the transport minister, has given the game away. In 2006/07 he expects to see "fixed penalties of approximately £120 million" from speed cameras.
The "safety camera partnerships" that operate these roadside spies resemble the Spanish Inquisition in needing to net increasingly large amounts in fines to finance an expanding network of surveillance. In addition to the 6,000 cameras in operation, another 233 are to be set up, and these are to be mostly mobile cameras.
The other side of the anti-motorist pincer movement comes in the Road Safety Bill before Parliament, which will make illegal warning systems that detect radar or laser signals from mobile cameras.
British road safety is the envy of most countries in Europe. While the numbers caught by traffic cameras have been rising - from 448,000 in 1998 to more than two million - the figures for death and injury on the roads have been declining. So, the more safely people drive, the more they are being branded as criminals.
Most people need to drive, and the evidence is that, under a cunning disguise of law-enforcement, yet another tax is being levied on them.
Four wheels bad
(Filed: 31/03/2006)
The motorist is being turned into a criminal. New figures from the Home Office show that in 2004, 466 offences were dealt with for every thousand vehicles licensed. This proportion of almost one crime for every two vehicles makes a mockery of the law.
Respect for the law has long been a welcome hallmark of British attitudes. Now motorists - and that means most of us - see real criminals getting away with it, while peaceable citizens are bombarded with fixed penalties or worse.
Shopkeepers in Bournemouth were surprised recently to receive letters telling them not to bother calling the police if goods worth less than £75 were stolen. The letter was not authorised by senior officers, but it no doubt reflected attitudes among the police. Theft or drug crime are not seen as worth pursuing, while motorists are a golden goose.
Speed cameras are notionally intended to improve road safety. But a statement from Stephen Ladyman, the transport minister, has given the game away. In 2006/07 he expects to see "fixed penalties of approximately £120 million" from speed cameras.
The "safety camera partnerships" that operate these roadside spies resemble the Spanish Inquisition in needing to net increasingly large amounts in fines to finance an expanding network of surveillance. In addition to the 6,000 cameras in operation, another 233 are to be set up, and these are to be mostly mobile cameras.
The other side of the anti-motorist pincer movement comes in the Road Safety Bill before Parliament, which will make illegal warning systems that detect radar or laser signals from mobile cameras.
British road safety is the envy of most countries in Europe. While the numbers caught by traffic cameras have been rising - from 448,000 in 1998 to more than two million - the figures for death and injury on the roads have been declining. So, the more safely people drive, the more they are being branded as criminals.
Most people need to drive, and the evidence is that, under a cunning disguise of law-enforcement, yet another tax is being levied on them.
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