Thankfully, that sort of thing could never happen in the U.S.A.
Trent Dougherty: When you were offered the Nolloth Chair I recall that at first you weren’t certain you were going to take it given the relative economies and other factors. What have been pros and cons of accepting the chair and living in England?
Brian Leftow: There are speed cameras everywhere: more than 6000, in a country that would fit comfortably inside many US states. They ticket you at even 1 mph over the limit. And the limit almost everywhere off highways is 30 mph. As a result, just under a million drivers–3% of the total–are one ticket away from losing their licenses. I know one of them introspectively. The cameras are about to get smarter, too: it was announced recently that they will not just get you for speeding, but check to see if your seatbelt is on and ticket you for that. On the truly nightmarish side, in 2007, the gov’t will begin phasing in a system of universal “congestion charging.” You’ll have to have your car fitted with a radar device. The gov’t will use this to track you by satellite, and you’ll be charged per mile driven, the rate depending on the time of day, type of road and how crowded the area you drive through is. The maximum rate will be $2/mile.
http://prosblogion.ektopos.com/2006/03/29/34_leftow_on_li/
That is absolutely terrifying. However, I know those who think that everything the Government does is in our "best interest" will look at that and say, "well, I am sure they have a good reason for imposing that level of security on their people." It is amazing to me how people do not realize that their freedoms are being taken from them on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteThis post should just be deleted - it's drivel from start to finish.
ReplyDelete"They ticket you at even 1 mph over the limit." - false; the guidelines are 10% plus 2mph (e.g. http://www.speedlimit.org.uk/faq.html)
"There are speed cameras everywhere: more than 6000" - selective statement of facts; less than half are active at any one time; the rest are simply visual deterrents (e.g. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1350881/Speed-cameras-Half-dont-work-1-10-catch-offenders.html)
"And the limit almost everywhere off highways is 30 mph." - I don't know what a "highway" is when translated into UK terminology, but the national speed limit, which is the default, is 60mph. 30mph is the limit only in residential areas (it is the default where there is street lighting) - https://www.gov.uk/speed-limits.
"As a result, just under a million drivers–3% of the total–are one ticket away from losing their licenses." - misleading: the penalty for reaching 12 penalty points within the set period (points expire after 12 months) are a 6 month ban, not a permanent loss of licence. Given the inaccuracy of the other statistics, I'd be interested to know where this one came from.
"On the truly nightmarish side, in 2007, the gov’t will begin phasing in a system of universal “congestion charging.”" - The statement that this "will" happen needs no refutation, as it's now 2013, and no such thing has either happened or been presented to parliament as a bill or been in the manifesto of any major political party.
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