THE argument that speeding fines are just revenue raising is amusing.
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If you speed and get caught... blame yourself.
The laws are there for a reason and our police force is commissioned with the task of enforcing them.
Hardly fair to pour scorn on them for doing a good job.
It's humerous that the first thing people want to do when caught is look for someone to blame - that police officer for having the gall to catch them, the appointment they were running a few minutes late for or the distractions caused by the other passengers.
All excuses, nothing more.
Police revealed this week they were cracking down on low-level speeding - a few kilometres over and you'll pay.
Right on cue the 'just revenue raising' gang climbed upon their trusty soapboxes and started beating their chests.
The crux of the revenue raising argument is the silliest part. People complain that speeding fines are nothing more than a means for the State Government to fill the coffers. Yet, if everyone obeyed the law, as we all should, the government would get zilch.
Hard to really complain about the State Government raising money when you're handing your hard-earned to them on a plate, right?
Low level speeding is dangerous - the Transport Accident Commission has proven that as fact with their studies.
What's more, they've promoted those findings loud and clear with great campaigns such as Wipe Off 5.
But despite such confronting messages, far too many drivers remain happy to sit that few kilometres over the speed limit these days.
It's crazy, really. A few kilometres probably gets you to a destination a few minutes early. Yep, crazy. But people continue to speed and get caught day in, day out.
The driving factor, pardon the pun, for such a trend is patience. Well, a lack of patience to be precise.
For far too many people, impatience takes control when they get behind the wheel of a car.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to taking responsibility.
Some are far more afflicted by this trend than others. You know them, the ones who sit right on your back bumper trying to bully you to drive faster, those who ignore double lines to whip around you on a bend and those who run the gauntlet by cutting it fine with oncoming traffic.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to taking responsibility.
When you get behind the wheel of a car, your fate sits in your hands and, well, yet your foot for that matter.
Be sensible. Be patient. Be responsible.
Take care of those three things each time you drive and there's a good chance you won't put a single cent in those nasty State Government coffers.
Easy really.