Here in the UK, where we lead the world in cameras spying on our citizens, complaints like this often crop up... but usually in the rabid right-leaning tabloids. The Daily Mail seems odd company for Boing Boing.

Speed limits are a limit - ie, the maximum speed you're allowed to go. Unfortunately for the safety of everyone on the roads, they're treated more as a rough guide for how fast you can go. So people get caught breaking the law.

All the people who complain about this just being a revenue-raising exercise rarely seem to complain about authorities raising revenue from other kinds of law breakers - should they all be allowed to get away with it too?

If you really think that speed limits are too low then do something about it. Campaign, find safety experts who say it's no more dangerous to go faster, find viable and more flexible ways of monitoring speeds...

We live in democracies -- try and change the law. If the complainers have all tried this and failed then fair enough, go for mass disobedience, keep breaking the laws, fail to pay the fines, go to prison, get publicity for how ludicrous this is.

But until then you're just whining because you're no longer allowed to drive how you want. You poor things. Tough. Speed laws are there for a reason -- safety -- and were in place before these cameras arrived.

The Guardian's excellent Ben Goldacre has had some good articles in the past about this pseudo-science that's being used in many schools in the UK. For example:

http://www.badscience.net/?p=225
http://www.badscience.net/?p=227

Good reading.

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