The Cormanus Chronicles: 7 of 2017

[Cormanus]

Nice fritatta. What'd ya eat for breakfast?! Seriously that looks like some nice country ridden in nice weather.

The speed control thing in Oz seems to be getting out of hand. Pure revenue enhancement. The pols need to grow a pair (or at least one) and raise revenue the proper way...with a levy.

In the States there's some talk that highway enforcement needs to redirect from speed control to distracted driving interdiction.

That was breakfast!

Nice fritatta. What'd ya eat for breakfast?! Seriously that looks like some nice country ridden in nice weather.

The speed control thing in Oz seems to be getting out of hand. Pure revenue enhancement. The pols need to grow a pair (or at least one) and raise revenue the proper way...with a levy.

In the States there's some talk that highway enforcement needs to redirect from speed control to distracted driving interdiction.

Crikey! You can sure raise the issues Stichill.

You're right about two things at least: the politicians need to grow a pair and it would be good if they raised more revenue in a more transparent and simple way. If nothing else, using police as tax collectors is extremely inefficient.

However, I don't agree that speed fines are revenue raising pure and simple. Sure, it's a handy by product. But it's not why they're out there. Here, down under, there is a view that speed is the root of all evil on the roads; and, if you can reduce speed, you can reduce the annual road carnage. That's said to be a Good Thing because it preserves life; reduces congestion on the roads; and saves millions of dollars of public revenue on law enforcement, emergency services and heath care every year. In that context the state doing all in its power to reduce speeding makes sense. Assuming of course the premise is correct. It has the added bonus—which our politicians are sadly loathe to point out—that each of us can make a choice about whether we want to contribute. I mostly don't so I try hard not to speed and I don't drink alcohol and ride my motorcycle.

Sunday's exercise was arguably very effective, albeit inefficient. An obvious police presence meant the word got out. There were conversations (as I related) and hand signals and headlights being flashed and all the usual palaver with the result that everybody slowed down. The police achieved their objective: effectively reducing speed in an area and on a day when it could otherwise have been an issue. If they'd wanted simply to raise revenue, a couple of strategically concealed speed cameras would have done the job much better and more cheaply.