Are speed cameras there to improve road safety or as another method of government fund raising?

Question

I am currently looking into the Ethics of Speed cameras and trying to understand if they are infact ethical. On those grounds i want other peoples perceptions of what speed camras are there for are they simply a method of government tax or are they actually improving our road safety

Answer 1

They are extremely expensive: I don't think they are making money off of tickets in relation to the cost, which would support safety. I think the violation of privacy issue is larger than the "making money" issue, but we don't really have a right to privacy on the public roads or in our cars.

Answer 2

Arguably to promote safer driving, unfortunately through the typical government implementation of FEAR. Fear of a ticket, fear of higher insurance rates, fear of loss of our right, yes, I did say that dreaded word..RIGHT TO DRIVE. Instead of charging people with a crime only when thier personal behavior actually does effect the physical safety or rights of another individual, we have just made it illegal to do anything that MAY endanger or effect the rights of another, which makes speeding technically a thought crime, much like conspiracy to commit murder. If you are overheard saying your going to shoot the president of the united states, you are subject to arrest and conviction. On the other hand if you are told by another person that they intend to kill you, you are expected to treat it like a harmless figure of speach, and not allowed to take any steps to defend yourself. These speed cameras work kinda like that, there is no defense against them, and you as the owner of the car may not even have been operating it when the incident occurred. Besides that, the fact that people are being caught by these cameras is proof that they do not in fact keep us safer, if they did, no one would speed where they see one or more of the fairly obvious cameras placed. kinda makes them just another fund raiser, and as we did not ask for or approve them, they are a form of taxation without representation.

Answer 3

Since there is no actual proof that speed cameras reduce accidents (in fact they have gone up). It can only be that they are a there to satisfy the 'nanny state control ethic' with the added bonus of generating revenue.

Answer 4

80% fund raising, 20% safety.

You're just as dead if you hit a solid object (overpass, etc) at 50 mph as if you hit it at 250.

The death rate (deaths per miles traveled) on Interstates has gown down since the 55 mph speed limit was dropped. In fact, those 70 mph stretches are much safer than the 55 mph stretches !!!!

Answer 5

I like the danish way of slowing down speeders better.

Warning, the following link is a news report done in denmark. Some Americans may not want to view it, but it is NEWS. So I don't think anything is wrong with it. However it may be inapropriate for minors.

speedbandits (dot) dk/
( there i made it so its not a link, and you have to type it in your browser heading to get there.)

now I wonder how many people will complain about that link, but say it's ok to link to news about killing.

Answer 6

Automated Fund Raising!!! Requires no police cars, no car chases, no fuss no muss. Get your ticket in the mail.
What could be easier?

Answer 7

another method of government fund raising conin twits!

Answer 8

I think they are a deterrant but satnavs change things