Why StealthSpeed Cameras Will Make Driving a Misery



The government is set to make driving even more of a tediousbattle between us and the speed cameras, with the M25's new "smart"cameras set to spread their depressing, authoritative wings and infectmore of the road network.

According to The Times, 668 drivers have been caughtspeeding between junctions five and six in Kent and fined by the newer, more discreetcameras installed along part of the M25 last year, and the Highways Agencyquite likes having the power to adapt to traffic conditions and enforce variablespeed limits coincidentally generating more cash for itself.

Since they've been such a success in introducing ever higherlevels of fear and oppression to drivers thinking about setting the cruisecontrol to 72mph or even a daring 73mph on the M25, the system will soon expandto take in sections of the M1, M3, M6 and M60.

None of whichseems particularly fair. Police guidelines suggest we should be allowed to,unofficially at least, drive at up to 79mph on motorways without gettingstopped, plus cars are getting safer, the speed limit was very nearly raised to80mph a few years ago, trafficeverywhere is a nightmare and slowing us down anyway, and we have more in-carassistance than ever to give usdata on road conditions and alert us to nearby danger.

And people seem to have the mostaccidents on A roads and insupermarket car parks these days, so why punish the poor motorway driver evenmore? Isn't paying ￡8.50 for a pot of tea in a service station punishmentenough for leaving the house?

Perhaps driverless cars really are the future, then. At least thealgorithm programmed to ferry us from London to Brighton won't be endlesslyfrustrated by the speed traps, and what we lose in enjoying the drive we'llgain from knowing our boring robot cars won't land us with a mysterious ￡100fine.

Or here's anidea. No speed limit for electric cars. Then we suddenly all might start caringabout how fast fast chargers are and how much subsidy is still availableon those bizarre electric Renaults.

Article Source: http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2015/01/why-stealth-speed-cameras-will-make-driving-a-misery/

Image Source: http://www.courier.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276434/Article/images/25961370/9417582-large.jpg

VOCABULARY WORDS:

1. Stealth (adj.) ~ having or providing thecapacity to avoid detection  

2. Tedious (adj.) ~ tiresome becauseslowness or dullness  

3. Authoritative (adj.) ~ commanding  

4. Discreet (adj.) ~ made, done, situatedso as to attract little notice 

5. Subsidy (n.) ~ financial assistance 

6. Bizarre (adj.) ~ very strange or unusual 

QUESTIONS FORDISCUSSION:

1. What do you think are the purposes ofspeed cameras? 

2. Have you ever been caught by a speedcamera? What happened? 

3. Do you think that speed cameras arereally helpful in preventing road accidents? Why? 

4. Should cameras be situated in discreetplaces or in obvious places? Discuss your answer.