cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/44712264
These up-eds usually complain that photo radar would be fine if the radar worked properly. This one doesn’t even do that. It just complains that speed limits aren’t fair and now drivers have to change their behavior. jfc
It is true that drivers can avoid such tickets by sticking to the posted speed limits, but it is also true that drivers are hardly ever expected to strictly observe those limits.
…
It’s like the generally accepted contract between drivers and police – just drive at a reasonable speed and you’ll be fine – has been broken.
Oi, fuck off from the first one. Make them incentivised as heck to gain financially - they will then place them everywhere they sniff money, which is everywhere limits are broken.
The goal should be to improve safety, not benefit financially.
Placing speed cameras is a tool in your belt to achieve that, but it’s not the only one.
Other alternatives are narrower lanes, speed bumps, trees and objects closer to the road, etc.
But if more cameras means more revenue for the institution in charge of road safety, then that pushes them to not actually fix the reason why people are speeding in the first place. Because that would lower their revenue.
Edit: Here in the Netherlands it is the public ministry who determines where the cameras are located. And the police issues other traffic fines.
However the money from fines is going into the general national budget (just like a tax). Neither the public ministry, nor the ministry of safety who runs the police, gets more money for more fines issued.
This means that their priority is to improve road safety and not maximize revenue.
We need money to vastly overhaul the dangerous design of roads. I’m not too upset if that is partially paid for by people breaking the speed limit.
I get what you mean, but it’s not quite correct.
For example, one situation I have seen in real life: You are on a road with speed limit 100km/h. There’s a bend to the right with bad visibility, and right around the bend is a speed limit 30km/h and a speed camera right next to it. This situation is propbably financially great, but from a safety aspect it’s really not.
It would be much better to gradually decrease the speed limit (e.g. 100, 70, 50, 30) over a longer distance and where there’s better visibility.
In fact, if placing the signs, placing the radars and collecting the fines are handled by the same department, it’s likely that they will purposely create dangerous situations like that to collect more fines.
That’s why it should be three separate departments with separate goals: