The great anxiety over speed cameras: between an obsession with fines and road safety

We’re talking about devices capable of monitoring multiple lanes simultaneously, day and night, even in very poor visibility. They are no longer limited to simply calculating whether you are exceeding the speed limit by a few kilometres per hour. These new systems are capable of detecting whether you are not wearing your seatbelt, whether you are holding your mobile phone whilst driving, or whether the vehicle lacks valid insurance or has not passed its MOT.

The real crux of the matter, however, remains ethical and cultural. No one with any common sense would ever question the importance of speed limits near a school, in the heart of a built-up area or on bends that have historically been dangerous. In such places, speed enforcement is a form of prevention, and it is good that it exists.

The frustration building up amongst drivers reaches boiling point when speed cameras appear on endless three-lane straights, where the speed limit may have been inexplicably reduced to 50 per hour because of a phantom roadworks site that has been abandoned for weeks. It is at that very moment that, in the eyes of the public, road safety measures are perceived as a hidden tax. And when trust in the institutions breaks down, worrying phenomena arise: from repeated acts of vandalism against the speed camera columns to the avalanche of appeals that clog up the offices of magistrates, costing the public more than the fines themselves have raised.

There is still a long, long way to go before a balance is struck. Until then, the only real defence for motorists remains caution, along with a few gadgets that can help when approaching speed cameras and, perhaps, if necessary, taking your foot off the accelerator.

When we talk about TomTom, the first thing that springs to mind is the sat-navs you put in your car, which for years have helped drivers get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ without taking a wrong turn. Now, whilst staying true to its roots, the company has developed a small device designed specifically to detect speed cameras – and more besides. The concept behind Tom is simplicity at its best. It’s a pocket-sized box that attaches inside the car. If sudden traffic jams, accidents, speed cameras or any other hazards appear along the route, the device alerts the driver using audible signals and small LED lights. There’s no need to set a destination on the sat-nav or fiddle with the menus: if the road is clear, it remains silent. The decision to do away with a screen and voice commands was a deliberate choice by the designers, specifically to eliminate at source any possible source of visual or auditory distraction whilst you’re holding the steering wheel.

To work at its best, the device pairs via Bluetooth with the new TomTom app (which can be downloaded onto any Android smartphone or iPhone). It is the app itself, running silently in the background on your smartphone, that transmits all the necessary data to the device. Once you’ve set it up for the first time, there’s nothing else you need to do: just get in the car, set off, and the system takes care of the rest.

If, during your journey, you’d prefer a traditional sat-nav – with a map right in front of you, clearly visible speed limits and detailed turn-by-turn directions – simply use the app on your phone. Here you can use the ‘famous’ TomTom maps, backed by over thirty years’ experience in the sector, billions of pieces of road data processed every day thanks to a network of over 600 million connected users, and constant real-time updates on traffic and speed cameras. Tom by TomTom is available to buy directly from the official TomTom website for 80 euros.