Drivers: hooked on speed – and shameless with it

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/19/drivers-speed-limit-moral-outrage

Version 0 of 1.

Some motorists, like some cyclists, see the enforcement of speed limits as a moral crime. Only when speeding can they escape being the people they don’t want to be, and anyone who wants to chain them to the law must be attacked with real outrage. How else to explain a story in the Daily Mail whose headline is a classic of the genre: “Revealed: Company behind ‘sneaky’ new motorway speed cameras is paid £2.1m by the taxpayer so they can catch MORE drivers.”

Imagine! Without a newspaper to tell us, who could have dreamed that the companies which make speed cameras are paid by the government to supply them. We had thought they did this out of the pure evil of their hearts. Ordinary speeding families are being penalised by a Conservative government when their only crime is to break the law.

What’s even worse, these new speed cameras are painted grey, so drivers can only see them if they are paying attention to the roadside furniture. It was bad enough when they were painted yellow. I have seen it seriously argued that visible speed cameras were dangerous because they made speeders slow down, thus increasing the likelihood that the drivers behind them, speeding along without a care in the world, would crash into them – I mean, who expects a passenger car to observe the law on motorways, and how can you expect drivers to look out for anything so unusual?

But, clearly, the only thing more offensive and dangerous than a hugely conspicuous speed camera is one you have to look out for, since it is obviously unnatural – almost unthinkable – to travel at the speed limit without an effort.

If you’re not going to look out for speed cameras, you may even have to keep an eye on the speedometer. Have the politicians any idea how dangerous that is? Already, you have to manage a satnav, radio and a phone. Have they any idea how distracting it is to look at another thing inside the car? Whatever next? Compulsory mirrors to distract you from the view ahead?

And so on … It’s almost worrying how easy it is to adopt the voice and tone of an unrepentant driver – and, of course, I speed on motorways and elsewhere, too. I just don’t think I have a moral right to do so. But the shamelessness of motorists and their spokesmen reveals that free speed is far more popular than free speech. It kills more people, too. But this is apparently a small price to pay for the freedom of the motorist. Besides, the casualties of freedom of speed aren’t very attractive – mere cyclists, animals, pedestrians, children and Guardian readers.