on speed

Driving (which I love) is no fun any more. Between rocketing fuel costs, rising taxes and the omnipresent speed camera, all the joy is being steadily sapped out of driving, to the point where I find myself looking forward to being able to sell my car and go back to life as an urban-dwelling pedestrian. Unlike some drivers I recognise and (reluctantly) accept that (fun though it is) private car culture is coming to an end because it must.

Making driving not fun is an important stage in weening western civilisation off our damaging internal combustion habit. I understand and accept that - nobody said I had to like it. That covers the first two killjoys, and so when each successive fuel bill is higher than the last, I stiffle my urge to grumble.

Speed cameras are a different matter. I not only dislike them, I don't accept them. I don't believe they are (as claimed) a safety measure, nor do I believe they should be part of the landscape of our roads. Mostly that's just an instinctive reaction but today I stumbled accross Safe Speed, an organisation put together by a man called Paul Smith. Mr. Smith has put a lot of careful effort into examining why I and many other drivers are so distrustful of speed cameras.

I'd come across references to Safe Speed before in assorted bits of motoring press but the actions in recent years of certain self absorbed short sighted morons have made me deeply distrustful of grassroots motoring organisations. Seems I was tarring Mr. Smith with a wholy inappropriate brush (a shameful waste of metaphorical non-renewable resources). He's not out to justify reckless selfish behaviour on the road at all. His site contains a lot of thoughtful and thought provoking analysis of speed cameras and their effects on our roads. I'd recommend that anyone who drives in this country to take a look at his site.