| Is speed so important nowadays? Other than | | | | roads where the police consider to be hotspots |
| bragging rights, do people really care about the | | | | for over speeding. So we have constant |
| top speed of their cars. Outside of a race track, | | | | monitoring in place, which means that there is |
| there are very little opportunities to test the limit | | | | more chance of being caught and prosecuted with |
| of your car. So given that the speed limit in the | | | | 3 points or more on your licence. 12 points in the |
| UK is 70mph, and allowing for some overtaking | | | | UK, means an outright driving ban for 2 years. |
| speed, a top speed double this seems pointless. | | | | Before cameras, a 'human' police officer may |
| Sports cars, which will have more powerful | | | | consider the conditions of the road, or the |
| engines and thus higher tops speeds, also have | | | | number of others vehicles in proximity to you, |
| exotic and distinctive looks. So, the sports car | | | | before deciding to issue a fine. You could have |
| may say more about the status of the owner, | | | | probably been let off with a caution if you were |
| rather than any particular need for the car to | | | | not travelling too much over the limit or driving |
| travel at the speed it was designed to do so. The | | | | recklessly. A camera however, is ignorant of such |
| question is not really targeted at these owners, | | | | factors. So once you are photographed, there is |
| but more for the person who would sacrifice | | | | little you can do to escape the penalty. |
| features in a car for a gain in speed. | | | | As electronics become more sophisticated, there |
| The obvious reason against driving fast would be | | | | are more advanced ways of detecting your |
| to reduce the risk of accident to you. Driving fast | | | | speed. Sure there are ways of detecting the |
| does not necessarily kill you, but stopping does. | | | | camera's themselves, including advanced |
| You may be familiar with the road safety tests, | | | | detectors that use GPS, but speed cameras are |
| where the stopping distances needs to | | | | relatively cheap to install. So for most of your |
| memorised against the speed of the car. So at | | | | journey, you'll will be driving within the speed limit |
| higher speeds, there is less reaction time to | | | | as you slow down to avoid the speed traps, |
| danger ahead, and so there is more of a chance | | | | especially as speed camera's become more |
| of being involved in an accident. | | | | common. |
| Another reason for driving slower, would be | | | | So next time you shop for a car, you may find |
| increasing amount of surveillance techniques used | | | | that a model with more luxury items may be |
| by the police. | | | | more desirable than a model with a higher top |
| Here in the UK, there are speed surveillance | | | | speed. |
| cameras, such as Gatso's, that are placed at | | | | |