jont wrote:Sends the wrong message (ie that speeding isn't that bad really)
One could argue that the proliferation of surprisingly low speed limits has sent that message out pretty strongly already, before we even start debating how to enforce them. But that's a different issue...
jont wrote:and continues the obsession of judging safe driving by a number on a stick.
I'm not a fan of judging safety by a number on a stick either (cue somebody pointing out that the speed limit is the maximum speed you're allowed to drive, not the maximum speed that it's safe to drive) but I have a lot of time for the idea of preferring education to penalties. There will always be some people who are a lost cause - not interested in considering and learning from anyone else's viewpoint. So you're on a hiding to nothing unless you focus on those who
are interested - who might, if encouraged appropriately, be open-minded enough to take advice on board and change for the better. And for them, education has got to be a more constructive approach than punishment.
jont wrote:I'd rather see limits actually set appropriately (and not by local politicians)
Absolutely. The greater you set the difference between excessive and inappropriate speed, the more people you move from the second group into the first.