Safe Speed Forums

No excuse for speeding
Jim Seton
15 May 2006

If any of you have been to America anytime in recent... well, err, decades... you will be aware that there is a nationwide media blackout in force.

Well that might be a slight exaggeration because if it's happened in the USofA or to someone from the USofA it might just make the news somewhere in between the baseball results and weather reports, but if it's going off in some far away land, it would appear that Uncle Sam and all his cousins just don't want to know.

Thankfully on my recent jaunt Stateside I had more important things to worry about than what was happening back home in Blighty which meant that after two weeks away I had some serious catching up to do.
One of the clippings that really caught my eye was the £1m speed trap in Ferrybridge.

It would appear that a single speed camera set amongst the M62 roadworks close to where the new intersection with the A1 is being built had been flashing away like the paparazzi with Kate Moss in their sights.

As a result in just 18 months more than £1m in fines had been netted... which is obviously old news to the 18,000 of you who ignored the warnings and sped on through regardless, only to have a nasty letter arrive on your doormat some days later.

Of course, this revelation resulted in boom time for our letters page with frothing-mouthed motorists calling the fines 'insane' while no doubt blaming cyclists for their own inability to follow simple rules... well, cyclists seem to get the blame for all the wrongs in the world these days so speed cameras must be their fault too.

As a self confessed cyclist – and before you lot start foaming at the mouth again I'm also a motorist paying TWO lots of road fund licence and TWO lots of car insurance so yes, I feel I am entitled to ride my bike on the highway if that's all right with you – I found this reaction utterly predictable.

If you are told that speed cameras are in operation and carry on with the pedal to the metal regardless you are going to get fined, it's a simple as that. When you get fined don't act all hurt, just pay up and shut up... and in this case just be grateful you don't live in America. If you are caught speeding through roadworks over there the fine is automatically doubled... and quite right too.

I'm thankful that I have never had to make my living repairing our country's motorway network and can only imagine what a dangerous job it must be.

I can also only wonder what is going through the head of the speeding motorist as he zig-zags his way through the cones while just feet away some poor soul is spreading tarmac or doing whatever motorway workers have to do.

The motorway must be one of the most hazardous places on this planet to earn a living and as responsible adults it is our duty to heed the warnings, slow down, and give these guys at least a fighting chance of surviving their day at work.

So if you were one of the 18,000 hit with a fine I haven't a single ounce of sympathy for you... get over it and put your brain in gear before your car.