City drivers need to kill their speed addiction

Then I spotted the grey box mounted just above the traffic lights at one of the busiest junctions on Holloway Road. Of course, a speed camera. Remember them? I thought. Scottish cities are peppered with them but this was the first one I'd seen actually flashing in central London.

Unlike most of my London friends, I welcomed the sight. There is a deep antipathy here towards any notion of speed limits - not to mention speed bumps, congestion charges or road pricing schemes. Yet I've watched open-mouthed as London drivers race down roads busy with pedestrians, entirely unchecked.

It's this selfish attitude - that traffic-calming measures are somehow anti-car, not pro-human - that leads me to back Ken's proposed 20mph limit in residential streets.

The equation is simple. Speed kills. Drive slower, you'll stop sooner, hit people with less force. The statistics tell the story: at 40mph, a car will kill nine out of 10 pedestrians. At 20mph, fatalities drop to two.

And though the average speed in central London stalls at 11mph, speeding is commonplace. I'm sure it's a symptom of our gridlocked city that leads drivers, given a clear length of Tarmac, to put their foot to the floor. Side streets and long main roads become rat runs and racing tracks. Frustration at London's snail's pace traffic may be a reason for reckless driving, but I've never understood those who think it's an excuse to disregard the law.

Why do speed cameras here never flash? I ponder this every night as I risk life and limb cycling along Gloucester Place. On Monday evening I was pushed off my bike by a bus driver careering inches from the kerb. Usually, though, it's car drivers, desperate to get home in time for EastEnders, who shoot past making it impossible to overtake a parked vehicle or turn right without dismounting. When I lived off City Road smashed vehicles were a regular sight - often motorbikes mangled by maniacs taking advantage of the last unregulated mile before town.

Surely driving slowly in residential streets is a simple matter of respect and responsibility. There are children, pets and noise pollution to consider. A city-wide 20mph limit is one approach, but I'd happily see punitive measures stepped up.

And, in my experience, speed cameras work. In Edinburgh and Glasgow cameras were installed along all the key roads. Within months people simply stopped speeding. There's nothing like a few £60 tickets to encourage people to stick to the rules of the road.

All those flowers and candles by the sides of our roads are shrines to the fallen. Are we really so addicted to speed that we'll defend our right to an extra 10mph,

BOY, I'm glad I sold my shares. This week, as the economy's red lines zig-zagged sharply downwards, I took stock of my finances and breathed a sigh of relief. A year ago, the shares were cashed in to help buy my London house. At the time it felt like I was burning my final bridge to a better life, cracking open the nest egg I'd nurtured for 10 years. But today it appears I sold with shrewd prescience. After 9/11 I watched in dismay as their value plummeted, then took years to recover. This time I'm delighted to have no ties to the stock market. Sometimes it pays to be poor.