In praise of speed cameras

The speed camera near us has recently been dismantled. As I am one of many motorists who has been caught by this particular camera over the years, you might expect me to rejoice at its removal. Particularly as I have made my views clear about our surveillance society. I have noticed one or two others have gone too. What’s going on?

As it happens, I am an enthusiastic supporter of speed cameras for the following reasons:

• they slow down traffic, leading to safer roads and lower pollution
• they generate income, thus reducing the general tax burden
• they ignore law abiding motorists

Think about it. Speed cameras only take pictures of speeding vehicles. Other motorists are left alone to go about their lawful activities without being snooped on. If you are going to have electronic law enforcement then this is an almost perfect arrangement.

So why are speed cameras being removed? I really don’t know. Sure, they are unpopular. But that can’t be the explanation. I fear something worse will replace them. That something is average speed cameras.

If you have a network of CCTV cameras hooked up to an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system, then you can calculate the time taken for each vehicle to travel a known distance, and hence its average speed.

Trouble is, such a system needs to log everyone’s movements, not just the lawbreakers. Records could be kept indefinitely, and used for all sorts of purposes in future, none of which have been debated or approved of by the public at large. So if you are happy with the removal of those ugly Gatso cameras, just think about the Orwellian system which might be put in their place.