Has someone told Brunstrom an election is looming?
Discussion
The Sunday Times Driving Section said:
Richard Brunstrom, once known as the "mad mullah of the traffic Taliban", appears to be relenting, writes Emma Smith. At the annual dinner of the Institute of Advanced Motorists last week Brunstrom suggested many speed limits were stupidly low.
"Every one of us can think of a speed limit that appears to be completely barmy, utterly bonkers. And if you think it's bonkers you are much less likely to comply with it. What we need are speed limits that have credibility in the public mind. We need to have a root and branch reform of every speed limit throughout the country."
Brunstrom admitted he must take some of the blame for the current obsession with speed cameras and suggested a possible change of emphasis in the future.
"It ought to be about the rule of law, about speeding. Speed cameras ought to be somewhere in the background, along with a host of other measures. The solution is not ever more draconian enforcement."
fur cough
I think the facts that apart from Speeding he is presiding over a force where they are not performing to an acceptable level and he is making a mockery of the welsh people who pay for him, has suddenly started to dawn on him. The audience he had probably had something to do with his tone but time will tell if it changes.
They've got enough cameras now, they'll start ramping up the fines. As the number of cameras increases there must be a point of diminishing return where the marginal additional income from each new camera becomes less and less. At this point they will increase the fines . . . oh, they're doing that already . . . 
Must have bumped his head. Or he's been invaded by an alien mind-controlling parasite. He seems to be waking up.
Barmy speed limits? So why isn't he doing something about them then? He's enforced them for long enough -- was this against his better judgement?
Shares the blame for the focus on speed? I thought he did it all single-handedly? He certainly took all the credit.
As with previous similar statements from other CCs, you have to wonder whether he's doing the work of the government to see what response he gets before ministers dare say the same thing, or whether he's making unauthorised statements and will be trodden on. It's so hard to read the real intention now politics has got into the police force.
Barmy speed limits? So why isn't he doing something about them then? He's enforced them for long enough -- was this against his better judgement?
Shares the blame for the focus on speed? I thought he did it all single-handedly? He certainly took all the credit.
As with previous similar statements from other CCs, you have to wonder whether he's doing the work of the government to see what response he gets before ministers dare say the same thing, or whether he's making unauthorised statements and will be trodden on. It's so hard to read the real intention now politics has got into the police force.
8Pack said:
I wonder! Is He also near to retiring? It seems they all go through this phase in the end.
Must be some sort of soul cleansing.
I saw him interviewed on TV last year, when he said that he had seven years to go before retirement. He's probably already lined up for a plum job with some worthless government department, judging by the way he sucks up to this administration.
Of course, if they intruduce elected Chief Constables, he'll be out on his ear straight away!
Perhaps he's been playing devils advocate all these years by brutally enforcing the letter of speeding law. When (eventually) everyone reaslises that his enforcement did nothing to reduce the rates of KSIs on our roads, he can say 'Case proven' raise all limits, scrap all cameras and get traffic plod back out on the hunt for dangerous driving in all forms, not just speed.
t? 
Thats much more likely.
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