Anyone been on a 'RIDE' course for speed naughtniess?

[Mr2Mike]

A couple of weeks back I got pulled on the Blade for excessive speed on an NSL DCW, with pretty light traffic. I didn't really have a leg to stand on as he recorded my average speed whilst following, so held my hands up and apologised. We spent quite a while talking in his car and he seemed like a genuinely nice bloke (unlike my last encounter with the law 20 odd years ago). He actually complimented me on my lane positioning, indication, and smooth non-agressive riding but couldn't ignore the fact that I was a fair bit over the limit (95). Anyway he gave me 3 points and a fine rather than a date in court which I was grateful for. This morning the dreaded brown envelope dropped through the door, and I was surprised to find I've been given the option of a 'RIDE' course.

Having spent a while on google I found this description:.

driver-improvement.co.uk said:

This Scheme is designed to address the behaviour of those motorcyclists whose riding could be described as thrill or sensation seeking and also those who by the very nature of their riding could be defined as anti-social or careless

I'm not going to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth, but this doesn't seem like a particularly good fit under the circumstances; I was certainly not thrill seeking, I was simply a bit late getting home from work and in truth I wasn't going that much faster than the rest of the traffic. I'm guessing there must be some cut off point for the standard speed awareness course which I didn't meet? Has anyone been on A RIDE course? Do you get treated as the social pariah that the above seems to label me as?

[Mr2Mike]

I'm certainly going to take the course, would be stupid not to.

Several people I know have done the standard speed awareness course and I was just wondering if this is likely to be significantly different in format as it seems to be targeted toward reckless thrill seeking tts like myself

[Mr2Mike]

So in summary, turn up late on noisy bike with shredded tyres, gaffa tape on fairings, ground down knee sliders and scuffs all over your leathers and then ask them when the riders briefing starts?

[Mr2Mike]

bennyb24 said:

Is a ride course different form the normal 3 pointer driving one ?

That's what I was trying to find out, in a very long winded way. The course description suggests it'd aimed at a different kind of criminal...

The letter I received directs me to a website to book the course on-line, but there appears to be no option to do that for the RIDE course.

[Mr2Mike]

I'd tried to book this a number of times, but always gave up after being on hold for 20 minutes or so. However I had a sudden panic the other day when I realise I had almost run out of time to book it, so a mere 35 minutes on hold later I get through.

Whilst on hold some annoying pre-recorded person came on every 20 seconds to tell you how busy they are and that it would be much quicker to use the website for booking. This was also suggested in the letter from the police. I query this and the woman who explained that it's not possible to book RIDE courses online

Anyway, good news is that the course is being held locally in Plymouth city centre, but the course is run very infrequently so I have to wait for the 22nd October for the next one. Looks like I'm going to remain an anti-social, thrill obsessed loony for another 2 1/2 months until I am submitted for reprogramming.

[Mr2Mike]

Did my RIDE course today, took 5 hours. It was taken by an ex-copper who came across as a genuinely nice bloke, and attended mostly by teenagers and younger riders who had had an "at fault" crash. Lots of tea/coffee/biscuits provided.

The course itself was predictable; lots of powerpoint slides with various scary stats, a handful of videos and Q&As. It was rather disjointed though, the content seemed to hop around a lot which reduced the impact of the message it was trying to send IMO.

One of the scrotes participants was unbelievably annoying; constantly interrupting, talking over the guy doing the presentations, knew the (wrong) answer to everything, constantly boasting about his exploits on a bike and basically wouldn't shut the fk up. Eyes were being rolled around the room every time this gobste opened his mouth.

£95 and a days holiday to avoid the points was still a reasonable deal, though I'm dubious about the effectiveness of the course.

[Mr2Mike]

black-k1 said:

The course was totally effective. It put another £95 into the "jobs for ex-plod" scheme while making you feel like they've done you a favour!

Fair point, but the alternative was £100 and 3 points.