I do not advocate speeding but....

I get the feeling that when the hammer eventually falls they will present this in evidence and fail to see the humour in it. Fuck it. I speed regularly and have a carefully crafted reputation of being punctual.

Road traffic is a real hot topic for some people. They love it, they like the detail they, they like the challenge and as much as people give out about headline crime road traffic legislation and its enforcement is a more pressing issue than gangland crime. We all drive whereas only the select few drive-by, so to speak. Road traffic laws matter to us all. I am, for the record, completely against drink driving. I believe in a zero tolerance policy. The accidents caused are horrific and wasteful, young lives snuffed out for no reason. I believe the legislation could be clearer and that some penalties are either wrongly enforced or not actually enforced. The preference for the breath sample over blood when someone is brought to the Garda Station leaves a certain margin for drug driving and the idea of enforcing any tiredness legislation is staggering. Anyway we rise to the challenges that present themselves and the process of contesting the laws and practices cement our laws, while any increase in fatalities from new cause will necessitate new laws and provisions. It's how the legislative body reacts and evolves into what we hope will be a more perfect fit for the society that we live in. An almost organic process. While my position on drink driving is clear, my position on speeding is rather less clear. Maybe it's not so bad. Now at this point you're wondering why. Well I reckon that speeding saves the economy money. In a trip from Lurgan to Dublin, we managed to shave an impressive 15 minutes off the journey time predicted by the sat nav thingy. You scoff at 15 mins, but even at minimum wage I could earn a couple of euro in 15 mins, take into account the multiplier and what that couple of euro tranlates into economy wide now multiply that by the number of people who speed and thus save up to 30 minutes a week (that's pretty conservative). Look at what is produced by people working that saved time add that to the multiplier effect and we get a picture of people getting there sooner and living happier lives. Speeding is not so bad. In terms of road deaths, ultimately does all the people getting there earlier making them minutely happier equal out some tragic losses. This goes beyond the realm of economics but to support an otherwise untenable position I'll claim without proof that it does. The economic impact of RTA's is probably easier to measure - if we look at taxes paid on the extra time worked versus the cost of cleaning up the mess. We can figure it out. If we look at the demographic that speed the most - young people with faster cars (ie. the most productive group in society) and see what their relative production capacities in the time saved is versus the lost production capacities of the victims we could arrive at some idea of profit or loss by speeding. Martin Luther King said "An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law." I like that quote. I'm not advocating speeding, I'm advocating a rational look at the real costs of not speeding. Lets not get left behind in an increasingly competitive Europe. Think with your wallet and not with your heart. Your heart will leave your children jobless.