DieselMoment wrote:
The problem we have (and America had) is that the public at large are very quick to jump on the bandwagon of political correctness. Where there have been traffic problems, or even where there have been none, when proposals are considered to deal with a situation, it's the "speed kills, kill your speed" mantra, and proposal for speed camera/speed limit that create the loudest mutterings of approval.
America had?
America still has this problem.
The only thing that has been accomplished by limiting the proportions of income that could be acquired, is that now, more than one agency is breathing down the officer's neck threatening his proficiency evaluations if he doesn't write more tickets.
The biggest conspirators in all this, aside from our respective govt's, are the radar and laser gun manufacturers, and the insurance companies.
Radar and laser gun manufacturers already make the kind of profit on each gun that Porsche still considers an aspirational target. These same manufacturers also make and distribute radar and laser detectors, of course ... like funding both sides in a war.
Meanwhile, the insurance companies usually purchase these radar and laser guns for city and state governments 'out of pocket'. For the insurance company, it's a wise investment. One officer will easily issue enough tickets in one month to cover the purchase of the gun. That gun lasts much longer than one month, and gets wielded by an average of two officers a day, for every day that gun is in service (with calibrations and maintenance, think 48 out of 52 weeks every year). Speeding tickets generate revenue for every gov't agency that has the sense to stick in one of its tentacles.
As violation points accrue on the driver's license / record, his insurance premium goes up. The increase in his premium alone won't cover the outlay for the gun, but the increase in the premiums of everyone who got caught in the 1st month covers the cost of the insurance company's initial investment quite nicely. After that, it's more profit.
From here, it would seem illogical for the aforementioned parties to want to improve driver training standards: there'd be less fish driving in the sea, and they'd be much smarter, which would only make it harder for the monetarily invested parties.
Ironically, the America national government was never able to monetarily profit from the lowered limits. Realizing that. it still left plenty of room for the city and state governments to do so.
Individuals acting individually are not capable of meaningfully injuring this system. We would have to band together and act in much the same way companies and governments do.
Suggestion number one: Everyone fights every ticket, in person, after respectfully requesting a later date for a courtroom appearance.