Very occasionally, I see something and think ‘I wish I had thought of that!’ It happened to me at the weekend, a motoring initiative so simple but actually so clever. Who knows, it might even work.
Here’s the idea; can we get more people to obey speed limits simply by making it fun to do? The answer is surely yes. Here’s what you do. Instead of photographing the law-breakers and penalising them, you do it the other way round. You capture on camera the people who keep to the speed limit. Their registration numbers are recorded and entered into a lottery. Winners would receive cash prizes, which would come from the money taken from the people who were caught speeding. Now how sensible is that? It could be done on a weekly basis, so each Saturday night – say, live on BBC 1 – a number plate is picked at random. The winner could also be notified by post, so you won’t actually have to stay in to see if you were going to be rich.
The idea has been proposed in a competition called The Fun Theory, and it’s been sponsored by Volkswagen. The speed camera one is the winner – and rightly so – but have a look at www.thefuntheory.com for more excellent ideas. I also like the theory that painting stairs like a piano - pictured above - will make more people use them. Would a speed camera lottery work? Let me know what you think.
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