The problem for me is that they are put at places where people tend to speed, and that is often because it is a major road running through a village. Instead of building the proper infrastructure to allow traffic to pass through we just slow it down.
My second problem with speed enforcement is it has caused a shift in policing. Speeding is an absolute and so is cheap to police and prosecute so gets 100% of the enforcement effort, ignoring tailgating, undertaking, lane hogging, lane indiscipline...etc. All of this can be just as serious, and I feel (as a regular driver of some of the UKs busiest roads) are getting worse. I would much prefer to have a police officer in a car enforcing the rules than any fixed speed camera
>Instead of building the proper infrastructure to allow traffic to pass through we just slow it down.
And then they might build a road hump. So now the nearby residents and pedestrians get a noisier road and anyone on a bike or in a car gets less comfort and less control even while following the speed limit.
Average speed camera zones are the only speed control device that works (for many via congestion rather than willful compliance I suspect), unfortunately it also encourages tailgating, aggressive and distracted driving (often in reduced width lanes) - I wish there was more of a focus on that.
Speed cameras allowed the government to cut back on traffic policing completely, whilst still enforcing something. From memory there are something like 40k fewer police on our little island than before the financial crisis.
The problem for me is that they are put at places where people tend to speed, and that is often because it is a major road running through a village. Instead of building the proper infrastructure to allow traffic to pass through we just slow it down.
My second problem with speed enforcement is it has caused a shift in policing. Speeding is an absolute and so is cheap to police and prosecute so gets 100% of the enforcement effort, ignoring tailgating, undertaking, lane hogging, lane indiscipline...etc. All of this can be just as serious, and I feel (as a regular driver of some of the UKs busiest roads) are getting worse. I would much prefer to have a police officer in a car enforcing the rules than any fixed speed camera