Can someone be passionately ambivalent? No matter how much I wrangle with speed limits and speed cameras I can’t come to a firm position on the issues relating to speed.

I find both sides of the argument polarised and dogmatic. I’m unconvinced by statistics as so many are bandied around that it’s impossible to discern which are meaningful and which are simply deployed to reinforce a position so entrenched that they’re hard to take seriously.

I’m all for more driver training and education – and, overall, I’m not a fan of speed cameras. But I do recognise that the state needs to play a role in managing traffic and I can’t see how the law can be anything other than a blunt instrument in this respect. In terms of speed limits you have to legislate to take the least skilled drivers on the roads into account; not the best.

I find that personally frustrating, because I believe that I could drive safely at 90mph in many motorway conditions. I don’t tailgate or undertake. I don’t thrash the engine. I slow down when motorways are congested; when I’m approaching slip roads or on ramps; when the weather dictates.

In heavy traffic or in poor conditions you can find me tootling along on the inside lane at 60mph. But on empty roads in fine conditions there’s a chance I’ll push beyond the national speed limit. I never speed on inner-city streets; in fact I potter down terraced streets at barely 20mph – 30 is clearly too fast for many of our cluttered roads that offer terrible forward visibility.

I’m willing to be persuaded that I’m mistaken, but I believe I’m a good driver.

However, a cursory glance on any stretch of motorway will provide ample evidence of many, many poor drivers. Drivers who simply don’t have the confidence, awareness, instincts, consideration or common sense to drive safely; or drivers behind the wheels of cars too powerful for them to handle.

There are lots of terrible drivers on British roads. Perhaps we’re introduced to driving too late; perhaps, culturally, we’re a nation of bad drivers; perhaps our roads are just too busy. Whatever the reason there are lots of bad drivers on British roads. Should these people be allowed to drive as quickly as they want? No.

Should we legislate for the least-skilled element of drivers on motorways? Though it pains me to say it, I think we should.

Many British motorists are clearly unable to negotiate our roads and motorways safely. The idea that the legal bar should be set to cater for the best drivers on the road network – most probably far beyond the capabilities and confidence of many of the driving population – is a chilling prospect for me.

I’ve generally tended towards the ‘if you can’t do the time don’t do the crime’ line of thinking. If you speed, the chances are you get caught out sooner or later – so if you do, don’t whinge about it. But, as ever, fate dealt me a blow that made me re-evaluate that line of thinking.

After 16 years of driving with a clean licence I recently got flashed for doing 80mph on the M9 in Scotland – and my frail paper licence had to go to some Scottish speed camera partnership.

This annoyed me, because there’s a strong likelihood that the national speed limit will soon go up to 80mph – and there’s generally a tacit agreement that 80mph, or thereabouts, is ignored by the police.

But, beyond that, when I was snapped it was by a mobile police van hidden on a hill on the approach to an overhead bridge – it was only visible once I’d passed the bridge. Sneaky. And no deterrent whatsoever to any driver tempted to break the 70mph limit that day. In fact, the only feasible reaction to drivers spotting this van was a frantic jamming of the brakes – this dangerous behaviour among my fellow motorists was the only thing that alerted me to the presence of the van.

I was reminded of that incident more recently in Yorkshire, when I saw a police van with a mobile speed camera on a bridge hidden behind an articulated lorry. Doesn’t that invalidate the point of deploying speed cameras somewhat? “Well, we failed to prevent that enormous pile-up as no-one could see us and no-one slowed down as a result, but on the bright side several of the deceased motorists will be receiving fixed penalty notices in the post, which we hope will force them to re-evaluate their driving style in the future.”

I’m a fan of speed cameras in some situations, namely on inner-city roads – where many people now drive at speed way beyond what is safe on cramped, narrow and congested streets – and on congested motorways.

Average speed cameras, to my mind, work brilliantly in managing traffic flow – on the variable speed limit section of the M40 for example. And they need to, because British motorists are totally unable to work out how to drive on congested motorways; if you’ve ever driven in a concertina-effect jam on the M1, M6 or M25 you’ll know exactly what I mean.

People obey those average speed limits because they’re unavoidable, unless you want a fine and licence endorsement – and everyone gets to wherever they’re going sooner as a result. That’s a great example of how speed cameras can work to manage traffic flow and, I’d say, make the roads a safer place.

But hiding in order to catch out speeding motorists? And catch them out with the blunt hand of a speed camera and cut-off point at around 77mph? I’m not going to suggest that we should solely rely on traffic cops to police our motorways – as with comprehensive driver eduction there simply aren’t the resources – but if we’re going to use speed cameras on our roads we need to understand what their aim is and why they’re there.

Graduated use of speed cameras – average speed cameras particularly – makes sense to me. Perhaps speed cameras could be turned on and off depending on conditions or the time of the day, in order to actively change driver behaviour? At times when speeding is clearly inimical to the general safety and civility of motorway driving.

But covertly catching out motorists travelling at speeds that are hardly unreasonable in the right circumstances strikes me as vicious opportunism. And if that experience turns someone generally in favour of speed cameras into someone generally suspicious of their use and ultimate aims – and one that is unlikely to moderate their behaviour – that’s a net fail all round.

There is a very good case for using speed cameras on British roads. But reckless use of them not only fails to put that case across; it risks making 30m drivers hostile to them completely – and blind to the potential benefits. When that happens we risk a reaction so violent that all speed cameras are withdrawn by governments minded towards populist moves. That may be a cause for celebration for some, but I think it would be to the detriment of road safety in general.

Think of the worst drivers you’ve ever seen – and imagine them driving at 100mph on whatever whim they choose. That’s a terrifying vision of where we could be without sufficient road safety management – and, by cementing the public’s negative of perception of them, the idiotic deployment of speed cameras by some police forces may only hasten its arrival.