I used to believe that speed-cameras were "unsportsmanlike" until I a) grew up a little, and b) visited a country where they were in extensive use and driving felt safer.
Speed cameras massively decrease the need for traffic-stops, which is a huge win for both safety and potential profiling/discrimination. Lowering speeds can decrease the consequences of a crash and more-uniform low-cost enforcement can allow law-enforcement to focus limited human resources on responding to calls that actually require a human.
I'm a big fan of speed cameras now, especially those that measure average speed by photographing cars at the ends of a long road segment.
Those segment cameras are great and they made a good impact where I live. They control a school zone that up until recently has been massively disrespected by commuters trying to avoid a stoplight on the main artery.
Honestly the only cameras I really don't like are the red light cams that for some reason are also accompanied by lowering the yellow signal's time by half compared to a non-cam light controlled intersection. I'm sure there's a great reason for that happening but I can't think of anything charitable.
A lot of the cases I know about here in Ohio is they reduced the yellow time to generate more tickets. Ended up being banned state-wide because they being used for revenue generation rather than safety.
Which is obviously terrible, but that's not fundamental to the system. It would make more sense to have a state law mandating, say, a minimum yellow time for such cameras.
But when most people drive, it's easier to do something that seems very pro-driver, even if it's anti-safety.
The average speed system has an advantage for drivers: if there's congestion in one section, you can make the time up on the later stage of the road (because there tends to be no live enforcement).
Speed cameras massively decrease the need for traffic-stops, which is a huge win for both safety and potential profiling/discrimination. Lowering speeds can decrease the consequences of a crash and more-uniform low-cost enforcement can allow law-enforcement to focus limited human resources on responding to calls that actually require a human.
I'm a big fan of speed cameras now, especially those that measure average speed by photographing cars at the ends of a long road segment.