Kill speed... but not for profit
The Ministry of the Interior’s latest initiative to discourage speeding by deploying civilian drivers involves some worrying logic.
We’re promised that subcontractors won’t be paid according to the number of fines issued but their employment will depend on it. If the scheme reduces speeding by deterrence it will quickly become uneconomical for private enterprise to be involved in it and the ministry will be back where it started.
There are other reasons for concern. An over-reliance on atomisation fudges the chain of responsibility. Radar cars will transmit data back to a central control point and it may become almost impossible to challenge the circumstances of a fine if a mistake is made.
Then there is the potential for entrapment. Who’s to say that a radar car operator won’t cruise down a straight, clear stretch of main road at an infuriatingly constant 87kph encouraging a tail of motorists behind him to overtake.
We need to do something drastic about speeding but there are some services the state cannot outsource. Law and order has to be a monopoly exercised by police personnel, in the interests of all.
