Not that I speed, of course... :-)
"Most police forces in England and Wales have adopted new speeding guidelines that allow motorists to do up to 86mph and avoid points on their licence."
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13022347
"Previously, only those travelling at up to 10% above the limit plus 6mph could be offered one of the courses.
"But the amendments were agreed by chief constables at a meeting of the Association of Chief Police Officers in January.
"For a 30mph zone, the upper limit for a speeding course would be 42mph."
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>>"For a 30mph zone, the upper limit for a speeding course would be 42mph."<<
Crazy! - 30mph should be 30mph IMO, I'm in favour of the 86mph bit though.
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I'd sooner pay the fine and take the points thanks
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Someone else posted another link to this story a couple of weeks ago.
It seems speed awareness courses could now be offered for higher speeds than in the past.
Previously, forces set their own guidelines which were sometimes published on the force website, sometimes not.
This seems to be an attempt to standardise the offer of courses across England and Wales.
Except not all forces offer courses, and the new measure is still being described as a guideline.
Oh, and there are no speed awareness courses in Scotland.
So we all know where we stand - not.
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Well I don't speed significantly and if I did put myself in the unlikely position where I got caught it would be my fault I would take the hit. Done and dusted.
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>> I wouldn't.
Nor would I.
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"Nor would I."
To avoid the consequences of your actions or to learn something?
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>> "Nor would I."
>> To avoid the consequences of your actions or to learn something?
No doubt I would learn something, but I don't particularly want points on my licence if I can avoid them.
Not exactly a 'mimser', but I don't tend to speed either.
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>> I wouldn't.
Can't see it happening, but I wouldn't want points on my license if there's an alternative. Those courses, do they do a nice lunch?
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>> alternative. Those courses, do they do a nice lunch?
My lad says no, just as well he said he wouldn't want to lunch with the other chavs on his course.
Bit rich really coming from my lad.
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The one I want tested is whether speed camers with ANPR really can't make sense of foreign number plates - I live in Austria and occasionally visit the UK in my RHD austrian-registered car.
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It mentioned on the news report I heard this morning that the speed awareness course costs £100, so I guess it isn't the cheap option.
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It depends what your insurance company's view is on points I think. My lot (LV) weren't interested in my 3 points - thay said 10 million people in UK had that many!
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>> The one I want tested is whether speed camers with ANPR really can't make sense
>> of foreign number plates - I live in Austria and occasionally visit the UK in
>> my RHD austrian-registered car.
>>
...but I should have made it clear that I regard 80mph as an absolute maximum when in the UK. At least driving across Germany means that you can focus on safe driving without constantly referring to the speedo.
Last edited by: Mike H on Sat 9 Apr 11 at 10:19
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The benefit of the speed awareness course is the speeding charge is officially quashed - no need to inform your insurer.
So £100 instead of £60 can be cheaper overall if your insurer hikes your premium for a conviction.
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My misses has been on a speed-awareness course some time ago ( she must be the only person to get a ticket in an automatic Picanto! ) and she rated it as a genuinely interesting course as well as a get outta points free card.
Now I cant get her to drive fast enough to get a ticket, she even displays her window sticker from the course proudly in her back window!
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A friend of mine went on the course a few months ago, and he, too, said it was an interesting day.
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I am all for educating drivers, assuming some of the information sticks. The problem is the people who see, and use their car as a domestic appliance with no concept of driving skills or the possible consequences of their poor driving.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 9 Apr 11 at 11:11
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>> I am all for educating drivers, assuming some of the information sticks. The problem is
>> the people who see, and use their car as a domestic appliance with no concept
>> of driving skills or the possible consequences of their poor driving.
>>
Enjoying driving and consequentially taking pride in driving well has been hammered out of people as driving is a sin and enjoying it doubly so. If drivers were encouraged to see it as a skill and an activity that could be done well there wouldn't so many of those car = washing machine folk.
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I may be a cynic, but I think there is more profit in courses than points.
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>> I may be a cynic, but I think there is more profit in courses than
>> points.
>>
Profit to who?
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The authorities in general. Stealth tax?
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 9 Apr 11 at 13:48
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>> The authorities in general. Stealth tax?
>>
But running a course will cost more than the admin of a fine!
When I took the course, it was the same 'price' as the fine - I weighed it up as points V's time and travelling cost to me.....
Last edited by: swiss tony on Sat 9 Apr 11 at 13:53
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...profit to who...
The £60 fine is just that, a fine, all you get in return is a receipt - if you ask.
The £100 speeding course is just that, a short course for which premises have to be paid for, someone paid to run it, a classroom and materials provided, and no doubt other incidental expenses.
I doubt there's much profit for anyone.
Last edited by: Iffy on Sat 9 Apr 11 at 13:51
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>> I doubt there's much profit for anyone.
>>
>>
Ten on a course, five days a week, in a shed, with an already employed ex traffic cop, shouldn't be too difficult to make a profit.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 9 Apr 11 at 13:58
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...shouldn't be too difficult to make a profit...
Much more profit in taking £60 off folk in exchange for a second class stamp.
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>> I may be a cynic, but I think there is more profit in courses than
>> points.
>>
Exactly. So the authorities aren't that worried about the 'speeding menace' at that level...are they?
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The report I heard on BBC radio 2 news this morning said that the £100 course fee went towards speed cameras (they didn't say 'partly').
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Seems to me that speed awareness courses are aimed at that those who don't know what speed they are travelling at or don't know the consequences of excess speed in the event of an accident. Hopefully most in this forum are aware of both. I am.
It follows therefore if I am caught for speeding it is because they I taken a calculated risk both knowing what speed I am travelling at and believing it is safe to do so despite breaking the law. If I am caught I have lost the gamble.
Pay the fine and move on.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Sat 9 Apr 11 at 14:36
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Don't push your luck up here, no "courses" in Scotland.
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Pay the fine and move on.
Or, take the course and move on.
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Or, take the course and move on.
That is indeed the option but speaking purely personally if I knowingly elect to break the law and get caught I will pay the fine rather than attend a course designed for the unaware or criminally stupid
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I suspect that most people on this forum won't have to take either option.
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I would take the course rather than risk a possible insurance hike.
Although I'm told many companies ignore three points.
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Well if you really want to be a holier than thou martyr, you take the course because it costs more than the regular fine.
I have to say CG, I bet that when push comes to shove, you would take a course rather than 3 points.
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Well in the unlikely event I get myself in that position I will let you know what I choose.
It's not a question of being holier than thou or a martyr, its a personal preference. The idea of attending a course actually seems a lot worse to me than 3 pts on an otherwise clean licence.
But as Clk Sec says the chance of having to make the choice is hopefully remote
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A lot depends on whether you need your licence for your work and/or higher mileage, if you do then should the unfortunate happen you'd be daft not to accept a course and hopefully gain another life, and learn from your error.
Some employers demand clean licences, and others will sack staff for gaining certain points...eg, where i work now, gain points for using a hand held mobile, even in your own car, and bye bye.
If you only drive your own vehicle and average mileage you really should be able to keep out of trouble, seeing as most mileage should be on familiar routes.
I gained 3 points about 6 years ago doing 46mph on an open nsl A road in the truck, unfortunately it was West Mercia so no quarter and no chance of a course...i'd have taken it gladly....if all trucks went round at a rigid legal 40mph the roads would be hell.
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I was offered a course six years ago for doing 36mph going out of a little village called Roade at 3.30am in the lorry.
It was at Northampton and on a weekday.
It meant having a day off work which is difficult if you are away from home all week in the lorry, and when I added up £80+ for the course, a day off without pay, plus the petrol involved I decided to take the three points and learn to be a bit more careful next time.
It worked for me even though I was on the road all week, every week.
Pat
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>>It worked for me even though I was on the road all week, every week.
A brave choice for a professional driver.
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"he wouldn't want to lunch with the other chavs on his course"
"a course designed for the unaware or criminally stupid"
Hmmm, I've been on one of these courses. Yep, I was speeding, 34 mph on a dual carriageway in Leicester at 5am in the morning, in an unfamiliar car (Range Rover Sport) no other car in sight, no pedestrians, nothing except the flash of a camera light as I passed but I was concentrating on traffic lights 100 yards ahead wondering if they would stop me like the previous 20 sets which had stopped me even though I seemed to be the only car on the road.
Unaware? Criminally stupid? Bit unfair. Careless maybe. Dangerous? Don't think so.
Somewhat like all the other 30 people on my course. Expected to be there with a load of boy racers. Nope, almost everyone was middle-aged, middle class(?) except for a couple of lads and one girl aged in 20s (not middle aged but "middle class!!). We were all asked why we were speeding. Almost without exception everyone said it was a momentary lapse of concentration or that they did not realise they went over 30 or hadn't seen the new speed limit (quite a few had been caught by a camera where limit had recently changed from 40 to 30 on a road they had driven for years at 40). Is that criminally stupid? Unaware maybe. Even the bloke running the course said that most of us were not driving dangerously (he knew the cameras that caught us) and conceded that most were "unlucky".
The course was very interesting, everyone (except one bloke who thought he had been "picked on") said they regretted breaking the law and it was not something they made a habit of. I think we all learned a lot about being "aware".
Three other points
1. You cannot go on a speed awareness course for 3 years after your first. Straight fine and points if you get done again.
2. The worst speeders do not go on speed awareness courses. We were told that if we had been doing 35 or over it would have been fine and points. Hence everyone on course had been doing 35 or under in 30 limit (or equivalent for other limits)
3. I have, as my job, been doing 2000 miles or more per week for the last 3 years in all sorts of cars (yep, including a Picanto Auto!!! as well as such things as XKRs, Bentley Cont GTs , 997s, Maserati Quattroportes and GTs, Ferrari 430 Scuderias - and I've got an XFs and a DB9 tomorrow!!. "unaware or criminally stupid"??? Think I've done quite well to only get done once for speeding!!
I really try to stick to speed limits as the max speed allowed and below if circumstances dictate.
Yes I made a mistake - not sure it was criminally stupid. Don't think I'm a chav either.
Phil
Last edited by: PhilW on Sun 10 Apr 11 at 21:48
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I was stopped last night and given a talking to about my speed for doing - and I wish I was making this up - 34mph indicated on a wide, deserted road at 0130 on my way home from work.
*sigh*
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>> I was stopped last night and given a talking to about my speed for doing
>> - and I wish I was making this up - 34mph indicated on a wide,
>> deserted road at 0130 on my way home from work.
>>
>> *sigh*
Policing as it used to be AF, you go to and from work at odd hours just as I used to do and getting stopped and questioned used to be a regular occurance. Thankfully any minor indiscretions were largely ignored with a jovial word and that had far more effect than a speed camera can.
Phil, if there was one wish I could have for car4play, it would be to ban the word chav.
There is an ever growing list of qualifications to be called a chav, and most of us will fit into the forever moving goal posts, but it still isn't nice when it could apply to you, is it?
If only I could get my hands on that swear filter for a minute........:)
Pat
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I am led to believe that a 'Chavvie or Chavvy' is a name attached to a Gypsy boy.
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That could be why I find it so offensive Martin, certainly around this area it has that meaning.
We are, after all just a few miles from the Gypsy capital of the Fens!
Pat
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can you only go on the course the once?
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No personal experience, but I believe that once you have completed the course you would not be eligible for another for three years.
Last edited by: Clk Sec on Mon 11 Apr 11 at 08:22
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" I believe that once you have completed the course you would not be eligible for another for three years. "
It's what was on the paperwork I was given when attending the course and confirmed by course leader. However, was talking to another driver who had been on a course and he was told by the team leader that in fact they had no way of checking whether someone had been on a course within the previous 3 years. He also said that there was no link between different regions/areas/counties running the courses so that if you went on a course in one area they certainly could not check whether you had been on another in a different area within 3 years.
Unless, of course, you know differently.........
Phil
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Just out of interest, where is the Gypsy capital of the fens?
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Ah yes, where all the horses on the side of the road look EXACTLY the same!
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>> I was stopped last night and given a talking to about my speed for doing
>> - and I wish I was making this up - 34mph indicated on a wide,
>> deserted road at 0130 on my way home from work.
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>> *sigh*
>>
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I think your speed was the excuse for a "does the driver match the car and time of day or is it nicked" check and a drink drive assesment. When I worked odd hours I was occaisionally stopped in the small hours for a quick check.
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>> >> deserted road at 0130 on my way home from work.
>> >>
Proper coppering IMO, used to happen to me years ago too.
The alternative post could well have read...''thank goodness for a proper copper in my neck of the woods, he stopped my car at 0130 on a minor pretext, and via 'coppers nose' arrested the bloke that had nicked it, i was fast alseep at the time, i'll buy that officer a pint''.
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Test it yourself and let us know.
You allways run the (slim) risk of finding a copper in a [patrol car who can give you a ticket for 1mph over the limit.
To answer one of the other questions - you can do the course more than once, just not within 3 years of the last one.
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Will someone test this and let me know? - Dog
