Fine, Costs and Criminal Conviction for Speed Trap Warning Man – Improving Road Safety or an abuse of state power?

Facebook and tabloid newspapers may not seem to be usefully critical focal points for fresh debate over abuses of state powers to ‘enforce’ traffic management, but sometimes they are. A new and in my view nasty twist has just been added to the ongoing debate about whether the use of ‘safety’ camera or ‘speed trap’ kit is really about improving road safety – or an ultimately damaging abuse of Traffic Management Act powers to rake in more cash from private motor vehicle drivers and riders.

Following a link from a Facebook (and real) biking friend – thanks Mark McArthur-Christie, I find that the much disparaged SUN newspaper just published a story about a man who has been convicted of a criminal offence and payed out over £440, because he flashed his headlights to warn road users they were about to enter a police speed trap…

Now I will point out that there are some crucial facts missing from the story in The SUN. e.g. Was the speed trap set on a section of road where many deaths and serious injuries had been caused by drivers or riders exceeding the speed limit? The story was also covered by the Daily Mail, and albeit in a notably different way by the Guardian, and Telegraph who both led with a defence of the CPS. Nevertheless, none of them added any more than The SUN.

But given the fact that it was a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decision to spend taxpayers money to take this case to court, perhaps the most critical question that none of the papers or CPS staff raised is this: Has this type of case has been tried before and if so what happened? And as a quick internet trawl reveals, such a case has been heard, it went to Appeal and a ruling was made by LORD JUSTICE SCOTT BAKER, that when the citizen in question warned fellow road users of a speed trap – he was not guilty of obstructing the police – which is quite rightly a serious criminal offence.

My brief internet trawl also found a site that purports to be a Forum for Police Officers – of whom a number seem critical of the prosecution and it’s inherent expenditure of Police and Court time.

So, yet again,critical questions are raised. WTF are we doing in Britain by allowing this sort of case to proceed to court? WTF are we doing using clever bits of kit as speed traps? I’m not saying we shouldn’t, but am not satisfied by most of the official answers. And, ultimately, is this sort of use of police and court time really enhancing the safety of our roads? As ever, I will allow you to decided and comment as you see fit…

UK to Impose New Tax on Speeding and Parking Tickets

Just when you thought life had got expensive enough to use roads in Britain I learn today from goldiron in the states & theNewspaper that our government is planning a new source of extra revenue from road users. Of course it is not officially described as a tax at all oh no. And it will not apply to ‘law abiding citizens’. I have to say though that my idea of law abiding citizens includes the millions of people who occasionally exceed speed limits and get a ticket from a lovely ‘safety’ aka speed camera even though they have done no harm to anyone or anything. But hey, what does that matter when a new revenue stream is up for consideration. And, to be as fair as I can, this new idea is officially just a ‘victim’s surcharge’ which is of course a much more caring and righteous thing than a new tax for riders and drivers. The great British public will have to make it’s own mind up about what this really is. But for what it’s worth, I think that yet again this isn’t really about helping road crash victims which I’m all for, this is really yet another way of screwing another stream of cash from the pockets of the ‘selfish’ and ‘lazy’ planet destroying group of people who use privately owned and funded modes of motorised transport. The intriguing thing about this group of individuals is that it happens to comprise the vast majority of citizens in Britain – and most developed nations…

Rage against speed cameras sparks more outbursts of explosive protest in UK and across Europe

Yesterday I went for a bit of blast on my Rocket lll to clear away a few mental cobwebs in the cold but exquisitely clear crisp air that glittered just above freezing across London. Today the air is just as clear and the sun is shinning through, tempting me to go out on another ride. But, so far, I have resisted that temptation because I really need to get some writing done before various things kick off during next week. However, my plan to work has already taken a tangential direction thanks to news from goldiron, who is a biker blogger in America talking about very different types of blast here in the UK, and in other parts of Europe…

They say that bad news travels fast. And news of every sort sure travels faster and further via the internet than any communications medium in human history – but sometimes it takes a curious route.

As I got to my keyboard & screen this morning to settle down to writing my next column for MSL, my attention was grabbed by news that objections to speed cameras have stepped beyond the realms of peaceful protest during the ‘festive season’.

I am not about to condone this level of extremist behaviour for the simple reason that I prefer living in a society that usually deters individuals from reaching a point where blowing things up just because they don’t like them becomes acceptable. And, as UK news shows, our police are taking this matter very seriously. It is also worth recognising that some individuals in our midst have an extreme dislike of motorbikes or scooters – or indeed anything that goes with help from an internal combustion engine, unless of course it’s a  ‘public transport’ service vehicle – but let’s not go there today.

All I am left feeling from this diversion is this. News keeps coming that shows how extreme the anger can get about the use or abuse of automated systems for enforcing road traffic controls and regulations. And, I guess, what  remains to be seen is whether such extreme actions as blowing up speed cameras (aka safety cameras) is more to do with the desperate lengths some individuals feel driven to go to – or that there are some things that are so bad about the way some ‘enforcement’ powers are deployed, that protests of all sorts will continue until changes for the better are introduced.