Speed cameras raise questions

Re: “If you speed, pay the price,” letter, July 16. Setting aside issues of expanding surveillance that it entails, the proposal to implement interval-based speed enforcement on the Malahat is certainly within the scope of technological feasibility, but it raises certain questions.

What kind of tolerances would be built into the system to accommodate speedometer tolerances? It is entirely possible for a vehicle to be travelling at 80 km/h by its own reckoning, and actually to be travelling faster than that. Would the system be so rigid that even travelling fractionally above 80 km/h would result in ticketing?

Also, if the limit is rigid, how will the likely increased congestion due to a decrease in the average speed of traffic (possibly from 90 km/h down to 75 km/h) be dealt with? In an effort to keep traffic moving, would there be any consideration to implementing minimum speed limits?

Or might the rigid upper limit be raised, with road engineers setting a new speed limit on the Malahat, using acquired knowledge and experience, rather than feeling?

It is just about certain that within months of such a system being implemented, drivers will know what the “allotted” time is.

As such, if the limit remains rigid at 80 km/h, what kind of distracted-driving enforcement will there be to ensure that drivers are focused on the road, and not splitting their attention between the road, the speedometer and a time-keeping device in an effort to avoid “undercutting” their “allotted” travel time? Daniel Langman Saanich