On Feb 4, 8:43*am, "dennis@home" wrote:
"Steve Walker" wrote in message

...





On 02/02/2012 12:15, dennis@home wrote:

"Ste" wrote in message
....

The fact is, the mental resources required to monitor and maintain
one's compliance with speed limits, has to met from a necessarily
limited supply of those resources. There will *always* be situations
where circumstances are such that the full extent of potentially
relevant sensory information overwhelms your ability to process it
all,

If that is the case you are driving at an unsafe speed.
Why do you have a problem realising that it is not good driving to
ignore information just so you can drive faster?

You're saying that as if someone is choosing to ignore information. They
are not. All human brains ignore information automatically, as they cannot
cope with it all - even at rest!

Look straight ahead. Now look quickly to your right. You saw a continuous
moving scene didn't you? Well no, you didn't. You saw ahead of you and to
your right, but while you were turning you actually saw nothing for a
moment, then your brain went back and filled in a memory of what it
thought you "ought" to have seen. That is the way our brains work and part
of what I have said elsewhere about information we can take in.

We all know, or should know, about the little tricks the human systems do..
That doesn't mean you can't avoid them by thinking.

I will state again, if you don't have enough time to analyze what you need
to be able to see when driving then you are driving too fast.

If you get caught on a speed camera it is not the cameras fault, you just
aren't as good a driver as you think you are.

As I've said Dennis, I've modified my behaviour in response to speed
cameras, to as to avoid capture.

I've probably moderated my speed somewhat downwards to compensate for
the additional mental burden at times, but I've also reallocated
attention from other safety-related tasks.

When passing a speed camera these days (even those that I have
anticipated in advance, or recalled from previous encounter), I spend
a disproportionate amount of time looking at the speedometer and using
the pedals to carefully moderate my speed to be just within the limit
- controlling the pedals much more carefully than in general, and
using the speedometer to maintain a speed within a very fine margin.

This moderated speed is often well below my own judgment of a safe
speed, and so I am reluctant to slow down any further than I have to
(unless it is accompanied by rapid acceleration once past the camera),
so there is every incentive to drive at the fastest speed possible
without exceeding the limit. I also spend a disproportionate amount of
time looking for a confirmation of the speed limit (repeater signs,
etc.), to be sure I have recalled the correct limit (which I otherwise
have little need to pay attention to) and have not overlooked a change
in speed limit.

There is also, of course, the principle of the matter, in which the
letter of the law is enforced against my will, so I want to comply as
little as possible with the spirit of it - so even if I could make it
easy on myself by slowing down further, I want to feel as though I'm
putting two fingers up at people like yourself, by only complying as
little as possible, and disgorging any increment in safety that you
expected to gain by threatening to penalise me.

Occasionally I'm caught out by a speed camera that I did not
anticipate as early as I would have preferred - this occurs more often
at night, and more often with cameras of inconspicuous colours. If
possible, I'll immediately reallocate attention to the moderating and
confirmation-seeking behaviours, to the exclusion of all other tasks
that can be reasonably dispensed with for a few seconds (including
looking at the road ahead). If it's not possible to do that (either
because I can't safely reallocate attention from more important
demands that I'm already managing, or because there is just not enough
time remaining to complete those moderating and confirmation-seeking
behaviours), I'll slam the brakes on hard to bring my speed below the
lowest limit I think might possibly apply given the instant snapshot I
have of the road.

It is certainly the case that speeding is not as easy as it used to
be. To speed now, you must additionally monitor for speed cameras -
and indeed monitor for places where police speed traps are most
likely, like long straights where it would otherwise be most
reasonable to speed (and then simply compensate and indulge by going
faster in places where there is less likely to be a trap, but which is
otherwise less suitable for speeding).

However, even where I have ceased to speed, I've often compensated
with other speed-increasing and safety-reducing behaviours (less
courtesy, faster pulling-out at junctions, more lane-changing, etc.),
and also by doing more non-driving related tasks at the wheel, like
listening to the radio, talking on the phone, reading texts, etc (this
is my common response to average speed cameras in particular).