fine is £100 and 3 points if you don't do course, £85 and no points if you do.... hardly pointless? it does because if you go on a course the insurance will still put the insurance up for speeding
Not having ever had any points on my licence is possibly the only aspect of life that's gone to plan.
As someone who used to give speed awareness courses and in Peterborough it included an hour drive with an instructor to give practical advice about their driving, we used to hope people would come on the course with an open mind and hopefully learn something. Some of the answers on this thread suggests otherwise. Oh well.
Question to all drivers who get about a bit. Would you agree that the further South-east you go, the more impatient, lane-ignoring and speeding occurs? I've noticed up here, across to Para's and back that loads of people mosey along 5-10mph under the limit. Further south where I was it was up to 1 mph under the limit despite few speed cameras, but 20 miles South of Cambridge anything goes.
It's definitely worth doing the course. I've done two now (with about 7 years between them in my defence ) and they're informative, relaxed, and far better than getting a fine, points, and increased insurance premiums. Both times there's been someone on the course who is grumpy about getting caught, and thinks that it is a waste of time - but I think they're a minority. I don't speed often, but there are speed limits and if I do, then I guess I risk the consequences if caught. The awareness courses are definitely worth it, you didn't waste your time teaching them Bob
I liked the bit at the start where he went round the room asking each one why they were there, every long convoluted excuse was met by him saying" so you were driving without due care and attention then" , no answer to that really!
I used to have to drive into South Wales a lot. They're pretty slow around there too. I found myself being the fastest thing on the road in my underpowered shopping-trolley hatchback!
^^whs^^ almost same speech at mine course was good.. police were right.. can't really complain.. they did argue you could try and claim a discount for having attended a course to improve your driving!.. that might be pushing it a bit though
I got my first ever speeding fine 3 years ago at the age of 49. Direct Line added £200 to the renewal when I told them.
Living in Belfast I noticed the farther south you got starting around Newry, the driving standards were poor and selfish. Heading down the M11 as you say everything goes, some competitive London idiots have to get ahead in life.
I got hit with a speeding fine about 13 years ago in Belfast. Mobile speed gun hiding in a service station in a 40 zone pointing it towards the 30 zone which was on a very steep downhill. I decided to overtake the long queue of traffic blocking the left lane; naturally you put your foot down to climb the hill, over the top and got hit doing 37 mph a few yards coming up to the 40. The police even put down fresh flowers at the accident spot where the jay walker tried to cross four lanes of busy carriageway as their reason to be there 'monitoring safety'. That's why I didn't drive my camper for ages with no working speedometer. 20 mph zones on all main roads and speed cameras! If I had to rush to A&E I'd be banned from driving, I'll sit and wait the extra 20 minutes for an ambulance instead, just to be safe.
I was actually done for speeding in the bus 37 in a 30 in Somerset going down a very steep hill into a village and was trying to come down the hill with the gear box and feathering the brakes as it was a hot summers day and dib not fancy the brakes fading out at the bottom. When I explained this at the course the instructor said that we do not need to drive like that anymore as modern cars brakes are much more efficient so I then asked if year 1978 is classed as modern to which he said no and then commented that it was the first person driving an old VW camper that had been to any of his courses.
