Med Hughes, Chief Constable of SouthYorkshire is due in court today (21^st November) accused of speeding at 90mph in a 60mphzone.

Mr Hughes is the UK's 'toptraffic cop' by virtue of his position as chair of the Association of ChiefPolice Officers road safety committee.

Paul Smith, founder ofSafeSpeed.org.uk, said: "Mr Hughes hypocrisy is absolutely breathtaking.He has been promoting speed enforcement as a means of improving road safety,but clearly does not believe his safety was compromised by ignoring thespeeding laws."

"I want Mr Hughes to tellthe truth. I want Mr Hughes to admit that under appropriate circumstancesdriving at 90mph in a 60mph zone is not dangerous.

Clearly this is what he believesor he would not have been driving at that speed. Why does he expect the rest ofus to believe something that he does not believe himself?"

"No more lies Mr Hughes.Road safety depends on the truth. We losing lives because we're wastingprecious resources chasing imaginary targets."

"Speed cameras have exposed ourspeeding laws as a false target, and the cure has been far worse than thedisease. While it is clearly important that no one should drive too fast, thespeed limit cannot tell us what too fast is."

Mr Hughes was allegedly travelling at over 90mph in a 60mph limit,and, according to news reports, already has six penalty points on his licence.Although these are time expired, so won't count under "totting up" ,he could still be given a driving ban for being more than 30mph over the limit.Six points is the minimum penalty expected in these circumstances.

Med Hughes, like his predecessor Richard Brunstrom, has been avigorous defender of speed cameras, even calling for them to be hidden so as tocatch more people. He has justified this by saying that breaking speed limitsis always dangerous and enforcing them rigidly is the way to save lives.

"This is hypocrisy on a scale it would be hard to make up ifit wasn't true," said ABD spokesman Nigel Humphries. "ACPO try topaint organisations like the ABD as irresponsible boy racers, yet Med Hugheswill by tomorrow have twice as many points on his licence as the entire ABDcommittee of 12 put together. Yes - ONE of us has 3 points, the other 11 have nonebetween them. Many of us have NEVER had any points."

It is hard to understand how a senior police officer, whounderstands every nuance of enforcement methods, can find himself in thisposition.

Either he is arrogant enough to think that the law doesn't applyto him, or he foolishly believes his own propaganda that enforcement is aboutsafety and so thinks that someone driving safely, reasonably and competentlyhas nothing to fear from speed cameras.

Whatever his state of mind, ACPO in general and Med Hughes inparticular now have no credibility on road safety - their justifications forspeed cameras lie in tatters.

It will be fascinating to see how the court sentences Mr Hughes ifhe is found guilty of the alleged offence. Will they take into account his publiclystated views that exceeding a speed limit by any margin is always extremelydangerous?

If they do, they should view his alleged offence with far greaterconcern than a similar misdemeanour committed by any normal driver.

Or will they see him as a safe, highly trained professional driverwho has broken the law without putting anyone at risk, and tend towardsleniency?

If they do, they will deepen the double standard that is driving awedge between the public and the police and give lie to both his and ACPO'spronouncements.