In some ways I agree about Safety Cameras, but oh the hypocrisy

Having recently travelled down to London and seen the obsession some parts of the country have with installing speed cameras almost every couple of miles along some roads, I have to agree with the Tory idea that most speed cameras could be culled.

Whilst speeding is a crime, it is not a premeditated crime intended to be at the expense of someone else. I happen to think flashing signs, better road markings and the occasional risk that a police officer might be standing there with a speed gun does provide the necessary inducement to slow down.

The problem though, for the Tories is that whilst they might like to slag speed cameras off, at a local level the Tories are actually very keen to put them up and make money from them.

Take, for example, in Norfolk, where Tory run Norfolk County Council are themselves major partners in Norfolk Safety Camera Partnership. This same partnership is responsible for the recent placing of a camera on my route to work in an area which I have, in four years of travelling that route, never seen an accident or been held up at that point. Of course, with a good flow of traffic I think most people know why the camera was placed at that exact point, and I am sure it will be a money spinner for them.

The problem though that the Tories will face by abolishing camera is that they do provide a source of income for the police, the same police that will apparently have to make its share of cuts. So the prize that motorists will get as a result of having less speed cameras will be less police officers and less crime solved.

The Tories will have to learn that for every policy there is a knock on associated.

Where are the traffic police ?

The government today announced plans to increase punishments for drivings who break the speed limits by a considerable margin, and it is hard to argue against the logic behind this decision. However, it does smack of the government wanting to further promote speed cameras at a time when traffic police numbers continue to decline.

The AA today claimed that traffic police numbers had fallen by 20% in ten years, and I wouldn't disagree. it is rare that you see a police car on the road and this means that persistent speeders and those who know where the speed cameras are can go about their dangerous antics on a daily basis knowing that they will almost certainly never be caught.

Every morning I am cut up and overtaken by a motorbike on the Fakenham Road in to Norwich at just about 8am. The same thing happens every day as he weaves through moving traffic, overtaking and undertaking in excess of 50mph. But where are the police to deal with him ? Of course they are never seen. The fact that I know this motorbike so well, an Orange track bike with the number plate beginning V5? ??? (and yes, I know the last missing digits also) tells you something about the regularity of this bike's antics, but he knows, like me, that the chances of a police car doing something about it is nil, and there are no speed cameras on my route to work.

If the government really means to do something about this, they should encourage police forces to take on more traffic police. Oh, and get them to also do something about slow drivers too !

Are we to assume the Tories will be so forgiving of others ?

Aside from some rather forthright criticism of David Cameron by Boris Johnston today, Tories seem to be of the opinion that David Cameron has done nothing wrong and that what he did was almost amusing. for perhaps the first time in my life I find myself in agreement with Boris rather than the bulk of Tory bloggers who have either ignored Dave's transgressions or seen to make light of it.

I wondered what a couple of Tory bloggers thought when Charles Kennedy was caught out having a crafty cigarette a few months ago to see if they were so forgiving. Iain Dale thought Kennedy was a hypocrite, whilst others seemed to think the Kennedy story was worth reporting whilst staying oddly silent about "call me Dave" and his cycling offences.

So it seems the Tories are far more willing to forgive someone who is a danger to other cyclists, pedestrians and cars than you might normally imagine.

Is this a sign of the Tories much more forgiving attitude under David Cameron or a sign of massive hypocrisy ? Well we'll find out the next time someone in another political party commits a misdemeanour.

For me the oddest thing about the whole affair was David Cameron's quote "I know it is important to obey traffic laws - but I have obviously made mistakes on this occasion and I am sorry,"

The key words are "mistakes on this occasion". No Dave, you were filmed on three separate occasions over three weeks. Everyone is entitles to a one off mistake, but three mistakes over three weeks surely makes you a serial offender.