Tim Blair

Slow down for a hundred metres and speed off again. Defeats the purpose of having speed cameras.

Just watch out for the sneaky bastards who put two in a row.

At least in NSW the system is reasonably fair. All the speed cameras I've seen are preceded by three or four large signs saying "speed camera ahead". If any driver is still speeding by the time he gets to the camera, he's just not paying attention, and deserves a reminder to stay alert.

"Fair"? Say, I've got a great idea. How about you actually read the speed-limit signs, and obey the law? Something of that nature?

"The Age hates an informed populace". Woo, Tim, you're spinning me out. A more accurate sentence would read: "The Age hates a populace that deliberately contravenes the law and undermines the work of Police officers".

Disagreeing with the law is insufficient reason to disobey it. This principle is the foundation of civil society. If you disagree, why not write to your local councillor, or lodge a complaint with the Police? I guess this is just too much hassle for some people.

Tim,

Looking over the exerpt, I can't make any sort of determination what The Age wants. If there was other information in the article that made The Age's snarkiness more apparent, perhaps you should have included it.

Just another spray from Timbo, who can't get over the fact that he was treated like the rest of the plebs when collared for speeding on a country road a couple of years back.

"I'm a journalist, you know!" he exclaimed to the poor copper, who stupidly refused to take this into account, and wrote Timbo a ticket anyway.

Of course Timbo used his next newspaper column to whine lyrically about the injustice of it all.I mean, Tim knows how fast is safe! Tim knows everything!

Don't you know who Tim is?

Personally, I'm hanging out for the day when GPS hits cell phones, and there's a freefone number to dial. The GPS coordinates and time are logged to a database when you dial in, and could be accompanied by a text detailing type of offending camera (static, in car, disguised as outboard on a boat, hand held by Robocop etc). The payoff is of course that as your phone checks its current cells, that database is also checked and you are warned if recently logged camera sightings are in your vicinity. Then you drive real slow. Then you get back to cruising altitude. Then you smile. Killer app: I'd pay $20 a month for that, so there's the commercial hook. Let's roll...