Speeding

So the House of Commons Transport Committee wants to limit the speed of motorcycles because they are dangerous and cause pollution.

Sounds fair enough, you might say. What is the possible justification for a vehicle being able to go over 70mph when that is the maximum permitted speed? The trouble with this is that it is an accepted part of living in a free country rather than a police state that many of the laws are drafted in a draconian way on the understanding that it is in fact perfectly acceptable to break them whenever you like as long as you don’t take the piss.

However, it has now become technologically possible to enforce many more of the laws absolutely than in the past. GPS in every car, linked to speed limit map and engine management system could prevent people from ever breaking the speed limit. Maximum speed limits at the top end could be just the beginning. They’ve already banned guns on an arguably shakier premise (in that despite its potential to be used for unlawful reasons, a gun can at least also be used for lawful reasons: there is no lawful reason for a road–licensed vehicle to do more than 70mph).

More and more CCTV cameras go up in London every day and before long it will be possible to nick and send out fixed penalties to each and every person who at any time commits a parking offence, traffic violation, piece of bad driving, or who spits gum on the floor or has a smoke when it’s raining in a “semi–enclosed area to which the general public habitually has access” (bus shelter). What’s the problem: if people aren't supposed to do it, they should expect to get punished for it. The problem is that it’s not how this country has historically worked and absolute law enforcement of relatively minor laws is absolutely an encroachment on day–to–day freedom.

Labels: driving, motorcycles, UK politics