[ceinewydd]

This isn't really surprising from the UK. If you go back 15-20 years, taxing a vehicle to drive on public roads used to involve displaying a "Tax Disc" in your windscreen, on the off-side of the vehicle.

They abolished this system in 2014 [1] because they'd long since reached saturation of permanent Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) readers [2] from >11000 cameras on UK roads, and scanning over 50 million vehicles per day.

It's also common to have 'Average Speed' systems on major roads and even country roads where the accident rate exceeds a threshold defined by the local councils. Those will issue you a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and points on your licence for a moving violation if you exceed the speed limit. Beyond the 'Average Speed' infrastructure is a giant number of fixed cameras which measure speed and capture imagery of your vehicle, number plate, and the driver and automatically issue the PCN for speeding, and mobile vans operated by the authorities and deployed anywhere they consider a "hotspot".

All of this costs you money immediately to pay the PCN, costs you money over time because insurers hike their rates, and after 2-4 violations in 36 months, can result in you losing your ability to drive and trigger an extended "retake driving test" (after your disqualification period).

This is much more draconian than the United States where in many states a moving violation (like a speeding infraction) will only be processed by a policeman pulling you over for a chat.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/vehicle-tax-changes

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_number-plate_recogni...

[snthd]

>This is much more draconian than the United States

There are also very big differences in road casualty rates[0]

The UK has 2.61 road deaths/100,000 inhabitants, 3.8/billion vehicle-km.

The US has 12.84 and 6.9.

The US dropping to the UK rate would be a difference of around 35,000 lives per year.

States vary a lot[1]. The lowest is:

5.7/100,000 for Rhode Island 7.1/Billion Vehicle-km for Massachusetts

Highest:

26.2/100,000 for Mississippi 20.8/Billion Vehicle-km for South Carolina.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_road_de...

[janalsncm]

> Those will issue you a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and points on your licence for a moving violation if you exceed the speed limit

That seems good? Either we think speed limit laws should be enforced or we don’t.

In the bay area where the speed limit seems to be infinity the effective speed limit is around 80mph even if the posted limit is 65.

[nmstoker]

With that battery of cameras and seemingly inevitable negative outcomes for speeders, it's unusual how many people continue to speed blatantly.