Rigpig wrote:
TripleS wrote:
Please listen Rigpig - I will not call you 'mate' - you have your opinion regarding compliance with speed limits etc., and I have mine.
Fair enough, no offence or overfamiliarity intended. I apologise.
OK, Clearly, we will agree on this when hell freezes over (or the country descends into anarchy

), best leave it there.
My own opinion is that speed limit compliance can have some secondary beneficial effects which are apparent in certain circumstances, but definitely not in others.
I see no safety benefit whatsoever with conscious voluntary speed limit compliance on the motorway, or other NSL. In my view it is a restriction which gets in the way of COAST, and as long as the speed used is COAST compliant it should never seen as dangerous, intimidatory or aggressive.
However I believe there are benefits to active speed limit compliance in town situations. The benefits are not across the range and in my belief apply to the TIBMIN (thumb in bum mind in neutral) brigade of which Basingwerk speaks so often. These are the types who never consider their driving actions for one minute, they are much more interested in the purpose of the trip, whether it's late for the school run or work, whether they are working out what they need to get at the supermarket or from the building supplies. They drive to the end state, by which I mean they become aware of being in the hazard without having anticipated it or planning for it. They probably would not recall how they got there, because their mind has been elsewhere.
This type of driver will also drive in the NSL at 45 mph then into town through hazards still at 45mph!
My contention is that a ticket from a camera may very well encourage this user group to be more aware while driving, if only for the incentive of licence retention. This may encourage a concentration dividend along with a more appropriate speed for circumstances.
This possible benefit has to balance with the evident disadvantages to the COAST driver. But when vulnerable road user fatalities occur in town it's more likely that the motorist involved will have come from the TIBMIN group rather than COAST, (on the odd occasion when it's not the fault of an illegal driver or a drunken arse pedestrian)

.
For me therefore an appropriate way of dealing with this may be to place covert mobile cameras (or VAS although it carries less of a threat) at positions where the COAST driver would never be likely to speed, but the TIBMIN driver will.