The system is only as good as the equipment and the people running it.
For the equipment, we have the Lti 20:20 - This has been
questioned quite a few times. However you are not allowed to challenge their use in a UK court, or indeed challenge their accuracy.
Secondly its the people. Personal case - I got caught last year. I received two tickets for the same offence. Hands up, I did it. But 2 tickets ? They were for the same offence in the same place but 25 minutes apart. When I queried it the conversation went as follows :
Me : I have 2 tickets for the same time ?
Then : Ah, yes, we spotted that one but it was too late it went out in the post. Ignore the second one.
Me : OK, so were you going to tell me ?
Them : No.
Me : OK, can you put this in writing (* note if you don't 'reply' in 28 days in the UK that is also an offence) ?
Them : No.
So basically if I hadn't checked, and quite a few people don't, then I would have had 2x the offences to face. And I was put in the position of having no proof of the conversation above (which was over the phone) if the second ticket hadn't been cancelled.
Thing is this I would have been (reasonably) happy to admit my guilt. I did it. Fair cop. But this turned me from a supporter to an opposer of this nonsense.
This is worth a read for anyone interested in road safety.
Quote:
Published in 1969, Road Accidents: Prevent or Punish? is one of the most important books ever written about road safety, and should be compulsory reading for everyone involved in the formulation of road safety policy. Although it was written nearly thirty-five years ago, the attitudes and prejudices J.J.Leeming describes are not only still with us, they have become even more entrenched.
John Leeming was County Surveyor of Dorset and was a firm believer that road accidents could be reduced by a scientific and dispassionate analysis of their causes. He was strongly opposed to the view that accidents are caused by the wilful misdeeds of drivers, who must therefore be punished for their 'crimes'. Indeed, he pointed out that this blame culture leads to drivers being reluctant to talk openly about their actions to accident investigators for fear of prosecution, with the result that the true contributory factors may never be established. Further accidents will continue to occur, therefore, which might otherwise have been prevented — hence the title of his book. His frustration is summed up in the dedication to his work:
'This book is dedicated to the countless thousands who have died on the roads of the world as a result of the prejudices of a minority, as some reparation and in the faint hope that it may induce some government, somewhere, to begin trying to stop accidents.'
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