On Fri, 3 Sep 2004 22:55:16 +0100, "Stimpy"
wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:

What this is really about is that the costs of breaking the law aren't
internalised; the drivers' illegal actions cost time, money and
lives, but the costs are borne by other road users, the state, and
cyclists and pedestrians. If the costs could be transferred to the
delivery companies, then it would be in their economic interests to
have good drivers. This is well nigh impossible to do perfectly, but
covering the country in smart CCTV with automatic fines for any
traffic offence would be a start.

...and who pays for the 'smart CCTV' system? Answer; road users, the state,
and cyclists and pedestrians.


Most other industries pay for their own safety and monitoring systems
so let's assume motoring to be no different and the costs are raised
from the users; with fines from offenders being one mechanism.

There then becomes an economic and business case to run a safe
operation. If costs of the infrastructure are also raised via usage
charges, there may be the added benefit that it becomes financially
sensible to use other transport modes.