Deaths on French roads were 5,000 in 2004; in the UK in 2006, 3,172 people died. So though the figures show both countries’ roads are getting safer as each year goes by, camera-less France is not doing too well.

We have a better safety record, but the question remains: is that down to speed cameras? In urban and suburban areas, the French tend to rely on hideously overblown ‘sleeping policemen’ – road humps they may well (but probably don’t) call ‘policiers de sommeil’.

There are more speed-trap cameras, and more security cameras in general, per head in the UK than anywhere else in the world. This raises issues other than those of road safety.

Last time I looked there was no concrete evidence that security cameras dissuade people from committing crimes, and only a slight hint that they help bring criminals who are caught on film to justice.

Against that, we have issues of invasion of privacy.

My vote remains against the Watchful Eye. It’s just too 1984.