Safe Speed Forums

Hello all!

Anyone know what i can do on election day to support a party which displays common sense when it comes to fuel costs, car tax, dickensian parking regulations and "speed" (revenue) cameras?

I can't find one.......so what am i supposed to do? Lend my support to someone who wants to make my motoring life worse? You MUST be joking...

The numbers of people who can't see anyone worth voting for are going up and up and up - and if you put this entirely down to ignorance, laziness or apathy you're kidding yourself (you know you are...).

If you don't agree with any parties approach to motoring and yet STILL VOTE FOR ONE because it's "wrong" not to vote then congratulations, you're prolonging the situation.

Sooner or later they'll realise the numbers of people not voting and will have to listen. I was talking to a friend from Florida last month. He was telling me about motoring out there. I asked "is there a road-worthiness test?". My friend replied "oh there was one of those once......but the people didn't like it........."

Either we do SOMETHING to stand up for ourselves or we do the typically British thing of discussing a problem to the nth degree WITHOUT ACTUALLY BOTHERING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!!!!

Yours hopefully,
Andy

The Conservatives are pledged to disband the camera partnerships, which must be a move in the right direction.

I share your frustration that no party is offering a proper range of common sense policies.

One the spin machine starts to come down, surely it will become easier to win sensible arguments? At least the Tories are planning to start to move along the right road.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Thanks Paul,

I agree that's a step in the right direction and I would support any party willing to do something but what is a "camera partnership" and how will "disbanding" it help? Why couldn't they come straight out and simply say that they intend to do-away with unnecessary (most!) cameras.

It's good news if they're genuinely thinking of applying some common sense to the situation but the phrase itself looks a bit like Bliars (thats not a typo') infamous "possible-evidence-of-weopons-of-mass-destruction-type-programmes" backdown-line : sounds good but doesn't actually mean anything.

If parties aren't prepared to forthrightly state their intention to amend the situation then i still can't see ANY reason for offering them our support in the form of a vote.

Andy

The partnerships are a big part of the problem. It's the "cash for cameras" "netting off" or "hypothecation" scheme. See this page:

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/hypothecation.html



They have said something similar. From memory the pledge is to "remove "unnecessary cameras".

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Thanks again Paul,

I see what you mean.......! As well as using objectivity when i vote (VERY rare in the UK) i'll see to it that i steer people towards this site to get a clearer picture of whats really going on.

Andy

I'll admit I'm someone who usually votes Conservative (although I have never been a member of the party).

They have put forward policies that are somewhat more driver-friendly than those of Labour and the LibDims - the latter in particular seem to be prone to anti-car excesses such as campaigning for a ban on 4x4s.

However, even if a Conservative government were to be elected in May this year (yeah right!) I wouldn't hold out too much hope of a dramatic change in policy. Road safety and traffic law isn't a core election issue and the civil servants will inevitably apply pressure in favour of the status quo.

Also it must be pointed out that, under John Major's disastrous leadership, the Conservatives introduced the three policies that plague us nowadays - speed cameras, road humps and local control of speed limits.

There is, unfortunately, no "motor vote".

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Maybe you should stand Paul, then we can all have a protest vote.

Reduction in fuel tax, repalcement of traffic police and removal of most of the speed cameras.

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Steve

There is a party called YourParty that take surveys and use the consensus as a basis for policy. http://www.yourparty.org Perhaps they might already have the policies we're looking for?

BMWK12 wrote :

Maybe you should stand Paul, then we can all have a protest vote.

Reduction in fuel tax, repalcement of traffic police and removal of most of the speed cameras.


Now there's an idea Paul. Just think of the 15 million people who are 3 points away from a ban, the people who (like me) are woken each morning by the sound of a low-loader and 4 traffic wardens watching the second hand tick it's way towards 8:00am (whilst they're stood in a pile of broken glass from the previous night's car-vandalism which the authorities "don't have the resources" to police..). Think of the family who's car won't do 100 miles on £10 of fuel any more.

If you gained most of the votes from these people you'd make Bliars majority look like a Monster Raving Looney turn-out! And this would be a damn site more constructive than chucking a burning tyre over a Gatso.

Andy

Thanks for the votes of confidence guys.

It's been discussed before:
http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=706

Basically I disqualify myself.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Right, i'm going to put my money where my mouth is here.......

If Paul disqualifies himself, how do i find out if I can make a stand as opposed to thinking that 'someone else' (like Paul) will do it for me.

Can anyone help because as good as we Brits are at highlighting scandal and impropriety the conversation usually goes like this :

"You seen that Hypothecation page on safespeed?"

"yes, bloody disgrace that, don't know how they get away with it"

"we should DO SOMETHING you know"

"what can WE do about it?!"

"oh, good point. We can't......."

"awful though, isn't it?"

"oh yes, awful, awful............"

Don't get me wrong - I am making the largest possible stand. I gave up work over 18 months ago and I do this full time.

I don't believe that running for parliament would be as effective as what I'm already doing. If parliament was the only way I'd consider setting aside my concerns and do that. But it's an information war, and one we can win.

By far the greatest limitation to what's already being done is funding. I have a budget plan for £279,000 for this year, but I don't have any of it. Largely I'm too busy with the stuff that seems important day to day to do proper fund raising as well. The operation as it stands costs less than £30,000 per year but I want to do so much more.

If you REALLY want to make a difference, help me obtain proper funding. That applies to everyone reading, by the way!

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I may have been mistaken but weren't Labour similarly pledged to disband NHS Trusts?



Just a few of the many policies kicked off by the Conservatives and carried forward by Labour. I will take a lot of convincing to place a cross in that box.

Last time I looked, the Lib Dem transport policy was a cut and paste from the Labour website.

Maybe we could get the BBC to sack Clarkson? Then get him to do a Kilroy.........