Vote Conservative - no more cameras
Discussion
www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/5544002
Tories pledge 80mph speed limit
By David Williams, Motoring Editor, Evening Standard
1 July 2003
Motorway speed limits will go up to 80mph and the controversial M4 bus lane will be abolished if the Tories win the next general election.
The pledges will be announced by shadow transport secretary Tim Collins this month when the Conservatives unveil their transport agenda, stating they will be "the party of the motorist".
Mr Collins today attacked the M4 bus lane, introducedin June 1999 by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, as "a nonsense generating congestion". He is pledging that the Tories - who have already opposed congestion charging - will end what they describe as a "political war" against motorists and scrap "schemes that deter car use", including unnecessary road humps and road tolls.
The Conservatives say they will scrap speed cameras in all but genuine accident blackspots.
Mr Collins said: "We will stop the practice of raising money from cameras for police to buy more cameras that encourage unsafe slow-down-speed-up driving and increase exhaust pollution."
He said the Tories would raise motorway speed limits "where appropriate", adding: "The present motorway 70mph limit could go up to 80mph. Simultaneously some other speed limits could come down."
The party is also considering nighttime speed limits "where appropriate and safe for vehicles to be driven faster on virtually empty major roads than during the day when they are busy".
They will review traffic-calming road humps after London's ambulance chief claimed they caused more deaths than they prevent, and Barnet council announced it was committed to removing humps in the borough.
Mr Collins said: "In 2001 not one inch of tarmac increased England's road network, for the first time since tarmac was invented in the 1860s. Yet UK taxpayers contributed to improving roads in Scotland, Ireland, Italy and elsewhere-in the EU - even in Iraq. People should not be made to feel guilty when they need to get behind the wheel."
He said the Tories would allow a "mature and realistic" transport debate that would address risks on road and rail. "Rail crashes occur worldwide and are tragic, and action is taken to prevent recurrence," said Mr Collins. "But, put into perspective, more people die on roads with less outcry.
"We have a clear objective to speed up journeys. UK commuters take longer to get to work than in any other EU state.
"We will look at lifting unrealistic motoring restrictions that do not necessarily improve safety but can even increase accidents."
Tories pledge 80mph speed limit
By David Williams, Motoring Editor, Evening Standard
1 July 2003
Motorway speed limits will go up to 80mph and the controversial M4 bus lane will be abolished if the Tories win the next general election.
The pledges will be announced by shadow transport secretary Tim Collins this month when the Conservatives unveil their transport agenda, stating they will be "the party of the motorist".
Mr Collins today attacked the M4 bus lane, introducedin June 1999 by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, as "a nonsense generating congestion". He is pledging that the Tories - who have already opposed congestion charging - will end what they describe as a "political war" against motorists and scrap "schemes that deter car use", including unnecessary road humps and road tolls.
The Conservatives say they will scrap speed cameras in all but genuine accident blackspots.
Mr Collins said: "We will stop the practice of raising money from cameras for police to buy more cameras that encourage unsafe slow-down-speed-up driving and increase exhaust pollution."
He said the Tories would raise motorway speed limits "where appropriate", adding: "The present motorway 70mph limit could go up to 80mph. Simultaneously some other speed limits could come down."
The party is also considering nighttime speed limits "where appropriate and safe for vehicles to be driven faster on virtually empty major roads than during the day when they are busy".
They will review traffic-calming road humps after London's ambulance chief claimed they caused more deaths than they prevent, and Barnet council announced it was committed to removing humps in the borough.
Mr Collins said: "In 2001 not one inch of tarmac increased England's road network, for the first time since tarmac was invented in the 1860s. Yet UK taxpayers contributed to improving roads in Scotland, Ireland, Italy and elsewhere-in the EU - even in Iraq. People should not be made to feel guilty when they need to get behind the wheel."
He said the Tories would allow a "mature and realistic" transport debate that would address risks on road and rail. "Rail crashes occur worldwide and are tragic, and action is taken to prevent recurrence," said Mr Collins. "But, put into perspective, more people die on roads with less outcry.
"We have a clear objective to speed up journeys. UK commuters take longer to get to work than in any other EU state.
"We will look at lifting unrealistic motoring restrictions that do not necessarily improve safety but can even increase accidents."
Nothing in the world would induce me to vote for that bunch of no-hopers. Ever. Even if their motoring policies were as good as they could possibly be, you just know the rest of it would sh*te.
More likely is that, feeling entirely disenfranchised and very depressed about it, I'll probably not vote at all in the next election, for the first time in 30 years of eligibility.
More likely is that, feeling entirely disenfranchised and very depressed about it, I'll probably not vote at all in the next election, for the first time in 30 years of eligibility.
manek said:
More likely is that, feeling entirely disenfranchised and very depressed about it, I'll probably not vote at all in the next election, for the first time in 30 years of eligibility.
Shame all this means is 'we're so divided we can't afford have any policies on anything important*, so we'll go for easy populism instead' *The middle east, asylum seekers, the economy, europe...
... rather than fox-hunting and speed cameras
mrsd said:
More likely is that, feeling entirely disenfranchised and very depressed about it, I'll probably not vote at all in the next election, for the first time in 30 years of eligibility.
*The middle east, asylum seekers, the economy, europe...
... rather than fox-hunting and speed cameras
Good point. I wonder if that's anything to do with the Thatcherite divide and rule policies of -- well, pretty much every government since 1979...
Sorry chaps & chapesses,
A non-specified railing against the blue rossette-wearers when they are making specific pro-motorist noises is not to be sniffed at.
For ages now, the irony of 'winning back' Mondeo Man has been an obvious and reasonably easy vote-gathering nut to crack.
I want to enjoy more of my driving more of the time along more than just one slug trail on the Isle of Barra.
It now seems that the only nest of vipers capable of tolerating that desire, might be the one that used to entertain the great Lord Clark of Saltwood, himself a fancier of the odd three figured automotive tipple.
A non-specified railing against the blue rossette-wearers when they are making specific pro-motorist noises is not to be sniffed at.
For ages now, the irony of 'winning back' Mondeo Man has been an obvious and reasonably easy vote-gathering nut to crack.
I want to enjoy more of my driving more of the time along more than just one slug trail on the Isle of Barra.
It now seems that the only nest of vipers capable of tolerating that desire, might be the one that used to entertain the great Lord Clark of Saltwood, himself a fancier of the odd three figured automotive tipple.
OK - no politician is to be trusted outright - but if you become overly cynical and are no longer willing to work with the process then you can change nothing.
I will, almost certainly, be voting for the opposition to the incumbent Government. The only viable opposition in my neck of the woods is the Tory party.
They (the Cs)have been a total joke for the last six years.
Now...finally they appear to have learned that the way to win an election is to try listening to the people and finding out what they want - and, within reason and prudence, trying to give it to them.
They have a chance again.
This is the precise process that the Labour party underwent during the long period of Conservative rule - at first they were unlelectable because they listened only to what they wanted to hear. Then they worked out what the population wanted and, at last, offered something better than the incumbents.
Its a cycle - and a healthy one in some ways. This particular Government have been in power for a little too long. All Governments that are in power for long enough start to believe that they have a fundamental right to be in power - rather than a pretty short mandate.
New Labour has become arrogant in the same way the Tories did. It now listens, not to the people, but to the pressure groups - that they subscribe to. They have already started to formulate policy not on what is best for the country but on what is best for those that are shouting loudest and are on the "politically correct list".
Frankly its what Major's Government did just prior to the British public reminding them that their jobs are not a "right" but a privelige and that privelige can be withdrawn.
Its time that privelige was withdrawn from New Labour and a fresh Government are given the chance to right the mistakes that are being made.
Soon enough that fresh Government will stop listening and need replacing as well.
But this lot need to go NOW.
So stop being cynical and decide to change things. It can and will be for the better at first at least.
To my mind in British politics Ideology has no place. Competence, freshness and enthusiasm does - and we could do with some of that right now.
I will, almost certainly, be voting for the opposition to the incumbent Government. The only viable opposition in my neck of the woods is the Tory party.
They (the Cs)have been a total joke for the last six years.
Now...finally they appear to have learned that the way to win an election is to try listening to the people and finding out what they want - and, within reason and prudence, trying to give it to them.
They have a chance again.
This is the precise process that the Labour party underwent during the long period of Conservative rule - at first they were unlelectable because they listened only to what they wanted to hear. Then they worked out what the population wanted and, at last, offered something better than the incumbents.
Its a cycle - and a healthy one in some ways. This particular Government have been in power for a little too long. All Governments that are in power for long enough start to believe that they have a fundamental right to be in power - rather than a pretty short mandate.
New Labour has become arrogant in the same way the Tories did. It now listens, not to the people, but to the pressure groups - that they subscribe to. They have already started to formulate policy not on what is best for the country but on what is best for those that are shouting loudest and are on the "politically correct list".
Frankly its what Major's Government did just prior to the British public reminding them that their jobs are not a "right" but a privelige and that privelige can be withdrawn.
Its time that privelige was withdrawn from New Labour and a fresh Government are given the chance to right the mistakes that are being made.
Soon enough that fresh Government will stop listening and need replacing as well.
But this lot need to go NOW.
So stop being cynical and decide to change things. It can and will be for the better at first at least.
To my mind in British politics Ideology has no place. Competence, freshness and enthusiasm does - and we could do with some of that right now.
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