Safe Speed Forums

Speed-checking intimidation

For the first time in my 42-year driving life I'm intimidated by speed-checking. For the first few years as a new driver it is probable that I wasn't intimidated because I was too clever or bullet proof, or both; later I've not been intimidated because I've had no need to be, and the fact that I haven't been pinged for speeding in almost 40 years attests to that. In a fair world I wouldn't be intimidated now, because I'm not driving any faster, but the latest use of speed-checking technology is not fair.

The first of those two unfair uses is in the positioning by the roadside of contractors in plain cars to catch me or others above the speed allowance momentarily. It's unfair because that speeding may have been very brief, perhaps in overtaking, and it may be anything but part of a pattern of deliberate and consistent speeding. Drive carefully within the acceptable limits for hundreds of kilometres along a highway and get pinged as you pass a truck on a multi-lane road. Unfair.

The other is the new, or at least new to the Hunter, so-called safety camera. It is a combination of red light camera and speed camera at, of course, an intersection with traffic lights. I say it is unfair because as we approach and pass through an intersection we have no time for watching the speedo - instead we are watching the lights themselves, watching that the vehicles in front of us don't screech to a halt at the blink of amber, watching for vehicles turning right or left unexpectedly, watching for pedestrians.

Accentuating this unfairness may be that the cameras are set to ping at 3km/h above the limit, that they're set for 64km/h in a 60km/h zone and 74km/h in a 70km/h zone, as has been stated in an email circulating widely in the Hunter. The RTA, by the way, says it won't discuss speeding margins. It is natural, or it seems to be for me at least, to accelerate a little to catch a green light rather than traipsing along waiting for the lights to change, and if the 3km/h tolerance is correct accelerating even a wee bit will result in a fine and points loss. In any event, the best we can do is drive at about a certain speed, because we are not machines.

And even the machine that is cruise control maintains an approximate speed.
I'm feeling bullied, and as a sensible driver with a record to prove it I shouldn't be. Are you intimidated? Is that a good thing? Is driving becoming a matter of tax avoidance?