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Motoring Discussion > Speed Awareness Course - thoughts.	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: DP	Replies: 45

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New Fri 20 Jul 12 12:59

Speed Awareness Course - thoughts. - DP

Just got back from my Speed Awareness Course, run by AA DriveTech on behalf of Thames Valley Police. I opted for this after being caught at 35 mph in a 30 limit on a local road a couple of months ago.

After a prompt 7:45 AM registration, we were shown to the training room. There were 22 of us on the course, 4 females, the rest male. Age ranges were from mid 30's up to a couple of retired people, with everything in between. Our pleasant and cheerful instructor introduced herself (ROSPA Gold and police advanced instructor), and covered the mandatory health and safety briefing in a satisfactorily sarcastic manner, which instantly had most of the group, myself included, warming to her quite significantly.

The course started with some statistics. We were asked to form into groups and collectively come up with a figure for injuries, serious injuries and deaths on our roads every day, which were then put on to a white board and compared with the actual figures. We were all wildly pessimistic, by the way. :-)

We were then each given a small handset, and had to "vote" on answers to multiple choice questions. The votes were anonymous, but the percentage split was placed next to each answer after the voting had finished, and the results were discussed. The number of people who don't know basics like speed limits on different road types is quite worrying, but there was no mocking or preaching. Instead, the correct answers were simply explained.

There was a fascinating section on police accident investigation, where we were told how accident scenes are reconstructed, what information can be gained, and how apart from the physical evidence at the accident scene, everything from your mobile phone records, the position of your sat nav on the windscreen, and even your blood sugar levels indicating when you last ate, and therefore how alert you are likely to be, are factored in to the decision whether to prosecute you or not.

The next stage covered stopping distances. The reaction distances at various speeds were covered, and we then moved to a video which showed a police class 1 driver in a Vauxhall Omega, on a closed runway performing emergency stops to avoid a cardboard "pedestrian" from 30, 32, 35 and 40 mph. At 30, the car stopped short of the pedestrian (clearly placed to illustrate the point, of course). At all other speeds, it hit the pedestrian with varying degrees of severity, but one statistic that did stick was that at 40 mph, the car was still doing 28 when it hit the pedestrian. At 30, it had stopped with a foot to spare.

The same was repeated at 70, 80, 90 and 100 mph, replacing a pedestrian with a car parked off to one side. The fact that a car takes longer to stop from higher speed is basic common sense, but to see it illustrated is surprisingly powerful.

The part we spent longest on was not actually speed related, but related to leaving appropriate space from the car in front. We were then shown how the lack of this has contributed to some truly horrific road accidents in the past, including the awful M4 Hungerford pileup in 1991, of which we saw a police stop frame reconstruction animation. The instructor actually said that if we took one thing away from the morning, it should be to keep appropriate space from the car in front. The instructor also had a wonderful pop at middle lane motorway hogs, which drew great appreciation from most of the group, sheepish grins from others, and yet more arguing from the idiot at the back who felt the need to try and argue his way around everything presented.

Finally, there were some shots of an actual road accident where a 14 year old child had been struck by a car and either killed or seriously injured (she didn't say which). The location proved particularly interesting, as it started off with a shot from a few hundred yards back up the road, with a traffic officer, the car involved, and a patrol car clearly visible in the road. As each shot moved closer to the scene, you saw something important that wasn't visible in the earlier shots, culminating in the petrol station forecourt that the child ran from, and which simply wasn't visible until you were on top of it.

The four hours went surprisingly quickly, and apart from the aforementioned idiot who clearly had made his mind up that he would learn nothing, and would argue pretty much everything, I think everyone got something out of it. The setting was informal, the instructor very "human", and quite honestly, the preaching, lecturing tone I was expecting couldn't have been more noticeable by its absence.

I still believe there is an over-focus on speeding, and that until this is fixed, we won't be saving as many lives as possible, but it's hard to argue with the factual information provided on these courses. You could see people's preconceptions breaking down within moments of the start by the fact that it was delivered in such an informal and light hearted (certain subject matter notwithstanding) way.

It has certainly made me think about how I drive, and re-educated me on certain things that I had perhaps become a little blase about. Will it turn me into a perfect driver? Of course it won't. Is it a perfect answer? Not even close. But as an alternative to the "punishment" of £60 and 3-points, it's certainly more positive and constructive. The stats reckon the courses result in a 1 in 14 reoffending rate, against a 1 in 4 for the conventional fine and points approach. I must say, I reckon that's believable. But in order to get anything out of it, you really do need to go in with an open mind, and be prepared to learn something. One guy in particular certainly failed to do this.

So, about as far from the miserable experience I was expecting as it is possible to get. I would recommend anyone faced with the choice of this or points to take the course.

Last edited by: DP on Fri 20 Jul 12 at 13:02