An admittedly unscientific spot-check on drivers that we carried out in Marston Ferry Road, Oxford, and in Nuneham Courtenay this week, found that very few drivers were speeding. Is this surprising, following the switch-off of speed cameras in the county? Probably not.

The truth is that most drivers, most of the time, are law-abiding folk, who do not race around the county’s roads speeding in inappropriate places.

Those that do are probably well aware of the location of the camera sites and slow to a legal speed when approaching them, then tear off into the distance.

Most of those that have been caught by the cameras are not irresponsible, boy-racer types intent on creating mayhem on the roads.

But one aspect of the speed camera system that appears to have been overlooked is that it gave many drivers a rare dose of driver education.

Many of those caught a few miles over the speed limit were offered a chance to undertake a day’s course to bring home the effect of speeding, rather than suffering a fine and points on the licence.

For many, this enforced training session was the only advanced driver training they had had since passing their test.

And most of those who attended one of these sessions said they found it useful and said it had altered their attitude to speed.

Quite what the effect will be of switching off the speed cameras is unlikely to be known for some time, but we have already noticed police officers armed with speed guns at the side of the road, when once they were a rare sight, so any prospect of a speeding free-for-all seems unlikely.

In the meantime, as one of our correspondents points out this week, the only truly effective speed limiter remains the one inside your head. Use it.