Graft and Greed and your Local Council

The state newspaper believes that local councils are greedy, grasping and money-hungry -- if Agamedes can believe the Editorial.

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Local councils are considering getting and using their own speed cameras. Or, as The West sees it, local councils want "to get a share of the revenue from speeding motorists" (Editorial, 14 May 2010). Here's the apparent chain of logic:

• Police own and use 26 Multanovas.
  
• These 26 Multanovas "can only be spread so far."
  
• There is "public doubt" as to whether Multanovas are placed to reduce road hazard or to raise revenue.
  
• This perceived "public doubt" is enough to convince The West that Police are, indeed, guilty as charged.
  
• Local councils are, apparently, also concerned more with raising revenue than with road safety. Guilty, because The West believes that it could be so.
  
• "Local government has already turned fines for illegal parking into rivers of gold." Local government is at fault, rather that people who park illegally.
  
• Similarly -- according to the "logic" of The West -- drivers who speed are perfectly within their rights; fining drivers for speeding is a sure sign of greed by Police.
  
• Councils fining drivers for speeding would also demonstrate greed and corruption.
  
• It is better to allow thousands of drivers to break the speed limit, than to fine one driver for speeding on a "busy suburban street".
  
• A council which can afford to buy a Multanova will "cash in on the proceeds". Worse yet, poorer councils will "miss out".
  
• By now The West has convinced itself that councils will only use Multanovas to raise revenue. Road safety will not even be considered.
  
• The police minister -- the minister responsible for the Police who already use Multanovas for revenue raising -- must "act decisively now and stamp it [councils using their own Multanovas] out".
  

Whatever happened to the capitalist ethos of competition?!

The logical fallacies

The West begins with an assumption: Police use Multanovas to raise revenue rather than to reduce speeding. No evidence is presented. The claim of "public doubt" is quickly turned into a statement that, it is so. No proof, no evidence. A baseless assumption.

Next fallacy: Each council which can afford a Multanova will use it wholly and solely for raising revenue. Again, no proof. Even less evidence, since no council has yet used a Multanova.

Related fallacies: Breaking the speed limit is okay as long as it is not near "residential areas or schools". Speeding in other areas does not cause any safety issues. When drivers do break the speed limit they are not at fault; the fault lies with the Police or council which operates the Multanova which records the motorist's illegal driving.

Skip to the final fallacy: The drongos who wrote the Editorial in The West actually knew what they were drivelling on about.

A simple solution

There are already laws in place to allow councils to use Multanovas. Here's how:

• Buy a Multanova. Or get Police to buy it for you (good luck!).
  
• Set it up wherever you like, but make sure that you know the speed limit at that point.
  
• Use the Multanova to record speeding drivers. They have broken the law. You are a witness and you have evidence -- the Multanova record.
  
• Send the Multanova record to the Police. Let the Police know that you have witnessed a crime, and here is the evidence; that's your right as a citizen.
  
• Leave it to the Police to use your statement and evidence to track down and fine the speeders; that's their job.
  

There is a clear separation between noting the crime and collecting the speeding fine revenue. There is no financial benefit to the council; even The West could not accuse them of revenue raising. Police are simply following up information from the public, to catch criminals.

Simple, if you think about it.

Independent thinking & independent analysis of your problems by Agamedes Consulting. Support for your thought: email nick leth at gmail dot com