Nuxx:E62e80cc-07ba-4382-802f-4c8ad1e22645@x16g2000prn.googlegroups.com

Path: number1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!postnews.google.com!x16g2000prn.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Message-ID:  From: Nuxx Bar  Newsgroups: uk.rec.cycling Subject: A Simple Question Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2009 13:32:20 -0800 (PST) Lines: 37 Organization: http://groups.google.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 86.160.137.186 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1231018340 7672 127.0.0.1 (3 Jan 2009 21:32:20 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2009 21:32:20 +0000 (UTC) Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: x16g2000prn.googlegroups.com; posting-host=86.160.137.186; posting-account=7_6kYAkAAABD6HrjM0VxehwvZOKMxm4g User-Agent: G2/1.0 X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.5) Gecko/2008120122 Firefox/3.0.5,gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe) Bytes: 3047 Xref: perfectly-safe.chapmancentral.co.uk uk.rec.cycling:682217

A motorist makes a trip from A to B, then back again. An hour or so later, he does the same thing. Along the route between A and B is a stretch of road which was NSL until a few years ago, but now has a 30mph limit, despite nothing else about the road having changed, and despite there having never been any accidents on the stretch which were caused by anyone driving too fast or speeding. Today, a mobile camera is raking it in by sitting, hidden*, on this particular stretch. Our motorist friend unsurprisingly doesn't see the hidden van, and drives by it each time at speeds between 35mph and 37mph. Accordingly, he later receives four speeding tickets, taking him to 12 points, and a probable ban.

So the question is: "Does the punishment in this case fit the 'crime'?"

Of course, it's a difficult question to answer if you're a camera supporter. You doubtless feel that your support of cameras mandates a "yes" answer, yet a "yes" answer is clearly so ludicrous and indefensible (not to mention indicative of an underlying hatred of motorists, or something similarly untoward) that you don't want to give it. Best then, maybe, just to pretend you haven't seen the nasty question and hope it goes away? Of course, the trouble with that is that the lurkers will know that you're only refusing the answer to question because you're worried about being made to look foolish. What a pain in the backside it must be for you to maintain this illogical position of supporting speed cameras. Is it really worth it? If you hate motorists, why not find an easier, more honest way of trying to get them off the roads? Or preferably, why not do something worthy instead?

Please make 2009 the year when you bite the bullet and stop pretending that cameras save lives.

-- regularly very well hidden, perhaps http://www.speedcam.co.uk/game.htm will change your mind.
 * For anyone who (genuinely) thinks that mobile cameras aren't