NOW here's a surprise - nearly eight out of 10 local people surveyed by the Dorset Safety Camera Partnership are in favour of speed cameras.

The vast majority, 78 per cent, of those polled (in Bournemouth, Christchurch, Ferndown, Poole, Shaftesbury and Sherborne) felt cameras saved lives, meant fewer accidents on the roads and encouraged drivers to stick to safe and legal speed limits.

Only seven per cent came out against cameras. So why, then, is so much credence given to so few?

Why do the Tory party and their mates in the national press persist in peddling this myth that we're all far too grown-up to need speed limits? And, even more perniciously, that cameras actually cause more accidents than they prevent?

Because the silent majority (78 per cent, in this case) is being consistently drowned out by people with bigger mouths who bang on and on about everything from speed cameras and traffic wardens to the price of petrol and how the EU wants us to eat only straight bananas.

You name it, there's a lobby group for it - and the media will probably give that group a platform and legitimacy it often doesn't deserve because, well, everyone loves a good old bust-up, don't they?

Well, no, most people want to get on quietly with their lives, as it happens, but increasingly find they're unable to, for one reason or another.

So their streets are narrowed, roads humped and children effectively banned from playing outside because a minority don't see why they should bother slowing down when they've spent more on a stupid big tank than most of us would consider investing in a house.

All teenagers are seen as Burberry-clad Chavs because of the loutish antics of a few oafs tanked up on cheap cider detonating fireworks down at the local rec.

Council taxes go up to pay for erasing graffiti or clearing the litter that a handful of chip-guzzling slobs chuck down as some sort of pathetic gesture.

And mounted police clip-clop about, handing out free chocolate in a misguided attempt to keep some clubbers from beating seven bells out of each other.

It seems a great deal of time, money and effort is going into keeping a lid on an increasingly aggressive and selfish minority, while members of the decent law-abiding majority just want to keep their heads down.

But what sort of example is the government setting when it persists with plans for 24-hour drinking?

It's quite obvious that more pubs and clubs and longer opening hours has caused all kinds of problems here in Bournemouth - and the issuing of anti-social behaviour orders is having about as much effect as putting a sticking plaster on a fractured skull.

The government and the police keep coming up with all sorts of grand initiatives and fancy plans, but people know that launching Operation Crackdown (or whatever it's called this month) and putting up posters won't necessarily put a stop to the nastiness - nor will giving evidence from behind a screen provide protection from intimidation.

I've heard nothing from any of the major political parties to convince me they're any closer to coming to grips with what's happening out there.

The prime minister says the battle against thuggery is a key issue in his bid for a third term.

"We need to do more for law-abiding citizens," says Mr Blair.

Too right, he does - or else the speeders, boozers and brawlers will continue to make life a misery for the long-suffering silent majority.

First published: October 26