Take the N71 in West Cork, the main artery for a huge area of the county. I have used garden paths that are more suitable for HGVs than this road, and probably safer too. Despite the fact that you are doing well to break 50 kph for most of its length thanks to an assortment of deadly bends, bockety surfaces, tractors, sheep, Micra driving farmer's wives, Corolla driving farmers, mountain passes and the odd horse what do they go and do?

The only good bit is the last bit coming into Cork city. It's grand and wide and straight and even has a bit of dual carriageway thrown in and you've guessed it, that's where the guardians of the people will nab you for speeding. Despite the fact that you come downhill for the last stretch and you're just after a 40 mile journey that has taken you two hours they'll do you up like a kipper for being 3 ks over the speed limit on the only decent bit of road you've driven on all day.

If they are able to increase the fines they collect by 80 per cent in dear old Ireland considering they are never seen anywhere near roads that are actually dangerous, just think of the potential such an approach has for an economy like the USA. They have thousands of miles of freeway over there and dozens of big cities.

The Irish experience has shown that the best place to enforce road safety is on a motorway coming to a city where motorists are slowing down. Many of the reckless boy racers don't slow down quick enough you see, so they are a mile or two over the limit as the dual carriageway enters the lower speed limit area. As the stats prove, the revenues to be had from this scenario are limitless. Who'd have thought the solution to the credit crunch could be so simple?

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