Speed Kills! But should we kill freedom?
Over the last 10 years the UK has invested heavily in road calming measures but have they gone too far? With so many new rules about what the motorist should or should not be doing (eating and drinking in the car, using the mobile phone, etc.) there is a real danger that the motorist stops thinking for themselves. It does not just stop with the motorist, there appears to be a whole host of new statutes introduced by the Labour government designed to instruct and protect their citizens. Its called the nanny state and it makes no sense at all to me. Firstly, you cannot legislate for every piece of bad human behaviour, let alone enforce it. Secondly, it becomes counter productive for the majority of UK citizens who will resent being told what they can and cannot do and there will be a them and us situation with the authorities.
There are councils up and down the land now looking to remove their speed cameras, mainly because of a funding issue and there are a small minority who are opposing this (loudly, I might add). Some of the objectors have experienced bad situations involving car speed and they have every right to feel aggrieved. But we have always been a nation of reasonable people so why punish the majority for the sake of the few. I am not advocating rampant speed just to allow for the UK’s citizens to think for themselves and I believe the majority will act responsibly. Those who cannot prove in a court of law that they acted reasonable in the circumstances, or put another way, those who are proved to have acted totally irresponsibly the law should be particularly brutal with. To make an example of the few is surely a better way. I personally hate the propagation of a nanny state. When Jeremy Clarkson was fined for eating an apple whilst driving I was appalled. Even Nazi Germany under Hitler was never that bad!
The effectiveness of Travel
Yes, I admit that speed kills but man will always look to travel around the globe quicker and more efficiently. Any measures enforced to curtail speed has to take into account the majority of its citizens freedom, personal liberty and quality of life. Recently, after finishing a wedding video in Birmingham I had to travel back to 1 Great George Street London late at night. It was a frustrating journey back with speed calming at 50mph over long sections (for no apparent reason – the road was empty and there were no workmen present) and I found myself having to speed up to try and maintain concentration as there were 4 lanes of empty road but I had to plod on. If there were laws which treated its citizens as responsible in such situations what a better country this would be.