Government figures published by the Department for Transport show that, in 2005, exceeding the speed limit was the cause of only 5% of road accidents. Inevitably this has led to questions about what is seen as a disproportionate effort on speed limit enforcement, which has resulted in speeding fines leaping by 61% between 2002 and 2003. The report shows that greatest cause of accidents was failure of drivers to look properly, which was a factor in a third of all the accidents. ...The latter was a factor in 10% of accidents - twice the number where exceeding the speed limit was a factor. Given that non-speed related causes presumably account for 85% of accidents, therefore, you would assume that police effort should be apportioned to driver education and enforcement in some of these other areas to a greater degree than on speeding. Given the daily horrors and blatant flouting of our road traffic regulations that we all see every day on the roads, that has to be something that would be welcomed. This morning, alone on the way to work, I witnessed two instances of cars veering suddenly from the overtaking lane of the A96 dual carriageway to carry out an illegal and dangerous 70 mph slalom to overtake on the left. I would have welcomed seeing a "safety camera" recording that incident and sending notices of intended prosecution or, at the very least, a caution to four drivers:...The two drivers who illegally obstructed the overtaking lane in the first place (there were not overtaking slower vehicles or turning right, so they had no right to sit in the overtaking lane)....The two drivers who flouted one of the basic principles of our road traffic system that you only overtake on the right, except when in slow-moving lane traffic. ...Ironically, the current obsession with speed, encourages you to watch the speedometer like a hawk, rather than concentrating on the road and other road users. Given that 'failure to look properly' is a factor in so many accidents, that seems to be counter-productive.
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Government figures lead to questions over speed camera 'obsession' 
