The most serious crime in the UK today

No, it's not smoking although that comes a close second. The most serious crime is of course speeding. Almost any other "crime" will involve a team of social workers and/or psychologists explaining to the Court how the accused was abused as a child, comes from a broken home, has self-esteem issues, is dreadfully sorry and won't do it again; however if you speed you are guilty as charged and will be fined and given penalty points even if this means you might lose your job. Here are the current penalties for speeding and quite severe they are too. You should be aware that a drive down a dual carriageway road with a metal fence and barriers down the middle at a steady 46 miles an hour (less than the speed limit 10 years ago) on a pretty empty road early in the morning could result in you passing a speed camera every mile or so and so losing your licence in 15 minutes.

The "speed kills" mantra is simplistic and wrong, but it is catchy and fits well with the anti-car views of many of our elected and un-elected "superiors".

Today I read that this delightful government is thinking of increasing the penalty for the worst offenders so they would get six points on their driving licence for each offence. So what are the levels of speeding that are deemed so serious? Apparently those driving at 45mph or above in a 30mph limit could receive a fixed penalty of six points and a £100 fine as could those exceeding 31mph in a 20mph zone.

Beware the last "crime" as I blogged only last month that the Department of Transport is looking to introduce 20mph zones in all urban areas as soon as practicable and Ken Livingstone has plans to introduce this across London next year.