speed awareness course
Discussion
Having just done a "Driver Awareness Course" (not speed) at least half of the people on it were there for 35 in 30.
The course does a really good job of explaining why this is such a bad thing actually.
I always fumed at the muppets who drive along the NSL road near me at 40MPH and then don't slow down at all for the 30. but even moreso now.
THEY should definitely be sent on the course as I'm sure they believe they're very safe drivers doing 40 everywhere...
I was there for 82 in 70 (dual carriageway in the countryside).
I must admit before the course I had a bit of a "The speed limits aren't relevant for today" mindset, but it made me think about how I drive. The Hampshire course wasn't at all preachy (and the message most definitely wasn't "Speed Kills") and I (and I think most others) felt it a useful 3 hours (Where that bloke spent 6 hours, I don't know, could be he WAS imagining it after all?).
I'm seriously considering sending my daughter on the course (you can do it for £30 if you're not nicked
).
M.
The course does a really good job of explaining why this is such a bad thing actually.
I always fumed at the muppets who drive along the NSL road near me at 40MPH and then don't slow down at all for the 30. but even moreso now.
THEY should definitely be sent on the course as I'm sure they believe they're very safe drivers doing 40 everywhere...
I was there for 82 in 70 (dual carriageway in the countryside).
I must admit before the course I had a bit of a "The speed limits aren't relevant for today" mindset, but it made me think about how I drive. The Hampshire course wasn't at all preachy (and the message most definitely wasn't "Speed Kills") and I (and I think most others) felt it a useful 3 hours (Where that bloke spent 6 hours, I don't know, could be he WAS imagining it after all?).
I'm seriously considering sending my daughter on the course (you can do it for £30 if you're not nicked
).M.
Edited by marcosgt on Wednesday 5th September 09:12
NormalWisdom said:
On a SAC at the TRRL in Crowthorne recently the lecturer informed the class that the NSL on some roads was 40mph. Not having any reference items to hand at the time I didn't argue the toss but I was sure this is fiction..... Bloke was also a complete self-important ar5e and a definite "bullied at school" specimen.
It's 40 for a HGV on a single carriageway derestricted road so perhaps he was alluding to that?R0G said:
donutsina911 said:
Is it? Who is the 'good driving' authority then R0G? Your viewpoint may be 'very different' and the IAM party line may be 'very different', but don't kid yourself you're in a position to speak on behalf of the 'good driving' establishment, whatever that may be. The law is the law and when you break the law by going above the speed limits, you take your chances and take any punishment on the chin, but that doesn't make the law a good law or your driving neccessarily bad.
I never mentioned the IAM !!If we accept the licence then we accept the rules that go with it
If we do not want the rules then we have the choice not to have or use the licence
I've been there and got the T shirt in the 80s - amassed 12 points and pleaded for licence in court - all for deliberately going over the speed limit in a 7.5 tonner a few times !!!
Did I moan about it? - NO - I did it and knew the consequences
Just done my course this morning at Heyford Park. Very interesting, excellent course, brilliant instructor Patsy (ex-police Class 1 driver, pursuit-trained) She really made us feel at ease but it was an eye-opener. I can't say I will never speed again, but it was very useful regarding anticipation, effects of accidents etc.
I was caught on the Kings Lynn by-pass at 69 in the 60 and it was a mobile. I should have seen it but obviously didn't. Naughty really as my speedo reads about 5mph fast at that speed so it would have been reading 74. Ooops. Probably chatting to my OH and NOT paying FULL attention to the road (or I may have been blasting past a ditherer - there were a few that day - my lad said "perhaps that was why they were dithering Dad" lol)
However, I agree with others that these courses are very informative.
I was caught on the Kings Lynn by-pass at 69 in the 60 and it was a mobile. I should have seen it but obviously didn't. Naughty really as my speedo reads about 5mph fast at that speed so it would have been reading 74. Ooops. Probably chatting to my OH and NOT paying FULL attention to the road (or I may have been blasting past a ditherer - there were a few that day - my lad said "perhaps that was why they were dithering Dad" lol)
However, I agree with others that these courses are very informative.
Petemate said:
However, I agree with others that these courses are very informative.
But do they have any effect on accidents?In my neck of the woods a double decker bus overturned this week with 50+ students aboard. Luckily none were seriously injured. A young soldier was killed whilst running back to barracks in Bovington after his stag night in Poole. He was killed by a coach in the early hours of the morning on a unlit country section of the A35. Yesterday night a driver was killed on the A31 when he run into the back of a parked up lorry, which was in lay-bye separated from the carriageway by a verge and kerbs.
How would the course help prevent these accidents?
rewc said:
But do they have any effect on accidents?
In my neck of the woods a double decker bus overturned this week with 50+ students aboard. Luckily none were seriously injured. A young soldier was killed whilst running back to barracks in Bovington after his stag night in Poole. He was killed by a coach in the early hours of the morning on a unlit country section of the A35. Yesterday night a driver was killed on the A31 when he run into the back of a parked up lorry, which was in lay-bye separated from the carriageway by a verge and kerbs.
How would the course help prevent these accidents?
Well, the courses will not prevent all accidents, especially those which you have (rightly) highlighted. Both the cases you quoted, incidentally, were discussed this morning in my course. However, I feel that I will be paying more attention in the future to what is going on around and ahead of me. After many years on the road, I think that this course has reminded me that I have developed some bad habits which I will now be addressing. The worst one I reckon is complacency.In my neck of the woods a double decker bus overturned this week with 50+ students aboard. Luckily none were seriously injured. A young soldier was killed whilst running back to barracks in Bovington after his stag night in Poole. He was killed by a coach in the early hours of the morning on a unlit country section of the A35. Yesterday night a driver was killed on the A31 when he run into the back of a parked up lorry, which was in lay-bye separated from the carriageway by a verge and kerbs.
How would the course help prevent these accidents?
Five things:
That research by Dr Jeremy Broughton, the stuff that featured in the IAM Magazine a couple of years ago identified the causes of crashes.
Where do local newspapers get their 'content'? It's often from the police, inquests or courts. They report the outcomes, causes and convictions from accidents so we can read for ourselves the contributory factors that led to the accident and frequent fatalities.
On my Speed Awareness Course they pushed further advanced driver training. Why not have that as an alternative? Let those caught within the guidelines reclaim their fine or Speed Awareness Course fee if they pass the IAM or RoSPA tests within so many months of their offence?
They're trying to make speeding as socially unacceptable as drink driving.
Who benefits by banging on about speed when people are still dying in accidents that have nothing to with speed and more to do the factors identifed in Broughton's research? It's a bit like you taking your car for diagnosis to a garage for some fault and then taking it home and just checking your tyre pressures in an attempt to fix the fault identified by the garage.
That research by Dr Jeremy Broughton, the stuff that featured in the IAM Magazine a couple of years ago identified the causes of crashes.
Where do local newspapers get their 'content'? It's often from the police, inquests or courts. They report the outcomes, causes and convictions from accidents so we can read for ourselves the contributory factors that led to the accident and frequent fatalities.
On my Speed Awareness Course they pushed further advanced driver training. Why not have that as an alternative? Let those caught within the guidelines reclaim their fine or Speed Awareness Course fee if they pass the IAM or RoSPA tests within so many months of their offence?
They're trying to make speeding as socially unacceptable as drink driving.
Who benefits by banging on about speed when people are still dying in accidents that have nothing to with speed and more to do the factors identifed in Broughton's research? It's a bit like you taking your car for diagnosis to a garage for some fault and then taking it home and just checking your tyre pressures in an attempt to fix the fault identified by the garage.
Zoobeef said:
Hoping the course is full of hot women and we can have an end of course pub lunch silver lining and all that
Necrothread I know, but - Ha! This idea is the first thing regarding this whole situation that has made me smile, and probably the last that will do so. Off to an SAC tomorrow as atonement for the heinous crime of 35 in a 30. Quite upset about the whole situation as I was in very unfamiliar territory, and was making a point of obeying the speed limit, especially in built up areas. I'd rolled through the village at 30mph all the way through until it ceased to be built up whereupon anticipating the speed limit to return to NSL I sped up *very* slightly - 7mph at most. The road continued round a bend and next to the sign marking the return to NSL a couple of hundred yards ahead, there was a hand-held radar gun wielding chap. I instantly slowed to shave off the excess speed, but too late. silver lining and all thatThe thing that really irks, other than the greater issue of money or points and money or whatever, is that the speedo on the car I was driving is marked like 0'20'40 etc - how on earth are you supposed to keep your eyes on the road if the difference between safe and danger is a mere quarter of a gradiation on the speedo.
Conversely, some of the upper tolerances are quite high. Had one been caught at, say, 69 in a 50 or something then I would agree that a speed awareness course would be a very good thing for the mentality of that person, and especially in lieu of points on the license, but in this instance, considering the location and circumstances in which I was snagged, I do feel a little like I am being rinsed for money merely to pay someone else's wages.
Well, that was well worth reviving a two year old thread for, I must say. There is another explanation for your woes, perhaps, which is that you got busted going above what you knew was the posted limit and that's tough bananas; but feel free to blame the designer of your speedometer, the wicked government, and everyone else who wasn't the bloke driving the car. It's the PH way.
I've been offered a course. I got 28 days to respond to the NIP, 20 days to book the course and 120 days to take it. I plan to take all the delay I can, just for the hell of it.
One of my mates recently had it at the venue I'll be going to and said it was a load of old b
ks. I'll be be just keeping my gob shut and thinking about something else.
Might invest in a pair of these:
One of my mates recently had it at the venue I'll be going to and said it was a load of old b
ks. I'll be be just keeping my gob shut and thinking about something else.Might invest in a pair of these:
Well, you can go with a closed mind and closed ears, or you could listen in, and you might be pleasantly surprised to find that the course is a bit of sensible refresher training on hazard evaluation with particular reference to urban and village areas. The instructor on my course was an excellent presenter - an ex copper who now teaches advanced and high performance driving skills as his main job. He was no enemy of the motorist.
What is it with people on here? Would you prefer the points? if so, just take them and STFU. You were the one speeding and you were the one who bit caught. I speed most of the time that I'm driving, when I get caught I'll accept it on the basis I get away with it much more than I get caught.
The resurrector of this thread needs to wipe his eyes and grow up.
The resurrector of this thread needs to wipe his eyes and grow up.
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