Paul's pontificatons

My first blog, wow, this sounds like fun. My first entry will be just to tell you I've created this blog, and will need to educate myself on how to work it. So I will experiment on it for a few session until I start to get the hang of it.
I'll sign out for now.

Ok, here's my first entry:

I think one of the greatest problems confronting society today is the car culture, with all of it's aggressivness, callousness and it's link to the status anxiety syndrome. It could be easily tamed with some political will, but as usual the liberals pander to the lowest common denominator of society.
Her are some interesting and poignant comments from today's letters column in the Melbourne "Age" newspaper.

Robert Doyle is speeding down the wrong track
April 11, 2006

RACV's readiness to support Opposition Leader Robert Doyle's "add-on-10" speed policy (The Age, 10/4) is cause for concern. The RACV seems to be acting like a rubber stamp for Liberal Party policy. Under Mr Doyle's plan, not only will people be able to drive faster - signed speed limit plus 10 per cent - they will be able to exceed this increased limit with little fear of detection since the position of detection devices will have to be provided in advance or be clearly visible. Is Mr Doyle suggesting that criminals should be informed by officers in uniform that they are being watched and that undercover activities would cease?
Paul Kennelly, Caulfield North

Licence to kill
FOR the Opposition to allow motorists to exceed the speed limit from 6 km/h to 11 km/h without any penalty is tantamount to giving speeding motorists a licence to kill. The death of any person is too high a price to pay for allowing people to break the law and go unpunished. This promised 10 per cent tolerance for speeding motorists must be rejected. Life is too precious for the electorate to condone this disregard for human life.
Michael Freeman, South Croydon

Play 'spot the camera'
ROBERT Doyle's supposedly innovative plan to replace surreptitious speed camera cars with conspicuously visible, glo-painted vehicular beacons is fantastically absurd. It appeals to the public's hip-pocket nerve - but in promising to save lives, flouts the very principles of the road safety system.

The purpose of inconspicuous speed cameras is to identify people who are breaking the law, rather than to remind them not to do so. Mr Doyle is confusing the two very separate functions of road safety: that is, warning the public (by increasing awareness of the potential costs, both financial and human) and detecting offenders. Use of these psychedelic camera cars would produce an obvious response: drivers would slow down as soon as they saw them - which, considering the colour scheme, would be some kilometres before they reached them - and accelerate as soon as they were out of photo range.

So unless Mr Doyle is willing to fund a scheme devoted to lining every street in Victoria with bumper-to-bumper orange perils, speeding will be reduced to a game of "spot the camera" - and both the Government budget and innocent lives will suffer the consequences.
Sarah Walker, Bentleigh

The wrong target
WHILE I give Robert Doyle credit for fight, the Liberals seem to misunderstand public perception of justice and common sense: the public hates getting speeding fines, but responsible citizens accept they are necessary and don't believe offenders should have notice to slow down only to go on and speed when they think they can get away with it.

If Mr Doyle wanted to tackle road issues of public concern, he would indeed identify and call for speed cameras in high danger areas, but he would also tackle issues that might offend a minority - such as promising to tax bullbars and new four-wheel-drive passenger trucks until they disappear from our roads. He should think of protecting innocents, not rascals.
John Dobinson, North Balwyn

Mr Irresponsible