Dear Sir/Madam,

 

I was surprised to learn that a new law will vary speeding penalties according to the severity of the offence, because I'd naively assumed that they already were ("Changes to speeding penalties anger road safety lobby").

 

It is manifestly absurd (and unjust) for someone caught travelling 5 mph over the speed limit to be given the same punishment as someone travelling 20 mph over the limit.

 

A major problem with speed limits is that they take no account of varying road conditions. For example, travelling at 90 mph (20 mph over the speed limit) on an empty motorway is probably a lot less dangerous than travelling at 70 mph (at the speed limit) on a crowded one. 

 

Is it not possible for the traffic police to show some discretion, overlooking, for example, 90 mph on an empty motorway, but coming down like a ton of bricks on someone doing 80 mph (or even 75 mph) on a crowded motorway?

 

The biggest problem, though, is that most people (one could say, society as a whole) do not consider speeding a particularly serious offence - unless as a result someone is killed or seriously injured. Then suddenly everything changes, and an offence which otherwise might have been punished by a slap across the wrist (a fine and a few points) is likely to put the offender behind bars.

 

But after the event it is too late. All we are doing is satisfying a desire for retribution. It does not act as a deterrent, because everyone knows that the chances of killing someone through a particular act of speeding are extremely small. If they weren't, we would have 100's of deaths on our roads every single day. 

 

Depending, of course, on its degree (thus the sense of the new legislation), speeding increases the chances of someone being killed by a relatively small amount, which nevertheless results in many 100's of deaths every year. Unfortunately (or rather, fortunately) the connection between speeding and road deaths is largely abstract. Drivers do not associate their acts of speeding with the mangled and blooded bodies of those killed everyday of the year. Most of us don't "experience" statistics; only the unfortunate few - and their victims.

 

Because it is largely just a statistic, up until now society has preferred to accept the death toll than the measures necessary to significantly reduce it. These measures are quite simple - it is merely a matter of obtaining support for the legislation that will implement them.

 

Fines are manifestly ineffective, apart from being unfair to those who can least afford them. A points system and the threat of a driving ban is far fairer and more effective.

 

We need a simple moral philosophy for drivers: either you keep to the rules (including the speed limits) or you leave the road. A first (and possibly second) minor offence should result in just a warning. Further minor, or a more serious first offence, should be punished by driving bans, the length depending on the severity of the offence and whether it a first or repeat offence. The driving bans, of course, would have to be enforced vigorously. 

 

Professional drivers, who often complain that driving bans are unfair on them because it is their livelihood, would have more reason than most for setting a good example of responsible (law abiding) driving, while persistent offenders would soon be a thing of the past, since they would be barred from our roads.

 

The technology is available; all that is needed is the political will, and many 100's of lives (including many children) could be saved every year in this country alone.

 

Encouraged by a powerful priesthood (some of whom write particularly for the conservative press), society will, however, probably choose to continue with the human sacrifice to one of its most referred gods: the automobile.

 

And what a tribute it demands! Not just in human lives, but also in what it has done to the countryside, to our towns and cities, to communities and the quality of our lives.

 

It is like a drug (literally!) that we are high on and can no longer live without, which has already seriously damaged our quality of life and may well finish up destroying us completely as a result of what we are doing to our planet in order to feed our addiction.

 

Together with frequent air travel, individual motorisation is an essentially non-sustainable part of our economy and lifestyles, which even now, with just a fraction of Earth's population "enjoying" them, are placing too great a drain and strain on our planet's (Spaceship Earth's) resources and carrying capacity.