Anyone done a speed awareness course?

[Konan555]

I do believe I may have to attend speeding rehab in the coming weeks. Anyone able to tell me how long the course lasts and how much coffee I'm going to need to drink beforehand?

[Marenghi]

mine lasted a couple of hours, hot drinks are available. oh and the answer to the most dangerous roads is country lanes

[Konan555]

mine lasted a couple of hours, hot drinks are available. oh and the answer to the most dangerous roads is country lanes

Too right! I was attacked by a senior citizen behind the wheel of a Prius on one only today. It's a good thing that I was willing to put the Jeep in to the hedge so she could have a 3ft gap from the verge for a safety margin.

A couple of hours, I can cope with. I have a really embarasing habbit of falling asleep in anything like this!

[Guy]

From memory 3.5-4 hours. Drinks are provided. Along with biscuits. My advice eat and drink as much as you can to try and recoup some of the cost!

Basically your going to get quite alot of powerpoint presentations, and statistics presented in such a way to try and show your a bad bad man!

Oh dont be suprised if your one of the youngest in there, I certainly was! The average age was 50+ on mine.

[mikerr]

Depends if you do an afternoon or evening one
- I did an evening one, and all were aged under 40 as most had come straight from work.

It was much longer than I expected - I went to an evening one and arrived at 5:30pm without having had a meal - by the time it finished at 9ish I was famished, there were 2 10minute breaks where you could have a cup of tea... thats it.

As for the course itself, I was pretty impressed - I was fully prepared to be lectured at,
but it was much more informal and quite informative.

Note though you do have to participate fully or they won't pass you on the course,
then you'd end up with the points on your licence.
That means you can't sit there silent / or moan and argue - just be grateful you're not getting points on your licence!

[edit] doing 35 after the runcorn bridge:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=runc...263.63,,0,8.24

[dave87]

Basically your going to get quite alot of powerpoint presentations, and statistics presented in such a way to try and show your a bad bad man!

For the purposes of the day, you are a bad bad man. Speed kills and for your heinous crime many kittens had to be sacrificed.



From what I've read, they're a mixed bag depending on who is leading the course/where you do it. Some found it surprisingly informative, some found it was to peddle the speed kills oversimplification.

Either way, simple, easy method of avoiding 3pts.

Where do you think they got you btw?

[GoNz0]

i found out a dual carriageway means it has something in the middle of the road to stop oncoming traffic, even it ifs a 3 inch wide grass verge, and i thought it meant 2 lanes on each side with nothing stopping oncoming traffic, apart from that i didn't learn anything else at all but they didn't treat me like an idiot.

saved me a few ticket since thinking the national speed limit sign meant i could do 70 and not 60 depending on a central reservation

sit in the middle, sitting at the back gets you asked more questions!

and not next to a woman, they made me pair up and most females there were thick as with the laws of the road.

[Konan555]

Where do you think they got you btw?

Gatso on Dereham Road coming in from Costessey. I saw it coming up, took the time to glance at my speedo and actually thought 'That's OK, I'm only doing 35' to myself. It flashed.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&...,99.79,,0,0.44

For some reason, I'd relapsed to the days when it was a 40. Yes, I failed on observance. I accept that missing a speed limit sign is bad driving.

[dave87]

Drove past it many a time when at UEA - almost caught me a couple of times.

As it is a GATSO, there is still a chance that it doesn't have any film in it - that is something that isn't a possibility with the new digital ones they're installing round here

[Konan555]

The notice has already arrived. I'll be out of pocket one way or another!

I am that annoying person that will sit at 30 right up until I pass the sign, causing much frustration to the commuter driving heroes every morning! Traditionally, I've never had an urge to break reduced speed limits nor can I be bothered to keep my eyes peeled for camera vans.

Of course, I get tailgated every morning, overtaken at blind bends and have people cut me up. Can't say I've seen the Gatso catch them out....

I guess that's the classic grumble of any driver with a speeding ticket

[kalniel]

I am that annoying person that will sit at 30 right up until I pass the sign, causing much frustration to the commuter driving heroes every morning! Traditionally, I've never had an urge to break reduced speed limits nor can I be bothered to keep my eyes peeled for camera vans.

Of course, I get tailgated every morning, overtaken at blind bends and have people cut me up. Can't say I've seen the Gatso catch them out....

I agree and feel your pain.. but I speak from experience in saying it's really not satisfying when you see the idiot through a wall around the next corner or upside down in a field and dead either

[Barakka]

Went on one a couple of weeks ago, not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Realised they've changed some of the info regarding how to know the speed limit in given areas regarding lamp posts etc since I learnt to drive. Also not too condescending, not being the police means they're more realistic in describing situations and causes, interesting exercise on reasons for speeding and for me drew parallels with quitting smoking.

I'd say it has made a change to my driving for the better in subtle ways and certainly a lot better than 3 points - when I got 3 for speeding years ago the insurance company weren't bothered - now they'd want £110 for year one - on a £350 policy !!

[kalniel]

Realised they've changed some of the info regarding how to know the speed limit in given areas regarding lamp posts etc since I learnt to drive.

Oh do tell. It used to be that lamp posts indicated a residential area thus national limit was 30 unless otherwise noted.. has that changed?

[Barakka]

Oh do tell. It used to be that lamp posts indicated a residential area thus national limit was 30 unless otherwise noted.. has that changed?

No, that's right, if there's lamp posts then in the absence of any other speed indication you assume residential area and 30mph limit.

When I did my test I was taught to look at the distance between lamp posts, and if was 200 yards or less then it is a residential/30 zone.

On a side note, interesting that they said that Lancashire has confirmed EVERY residential street in the county will be a 20mph limit by 2020, and the stats coming in from the initial changes mean other counties are considering it.

[Butcher]

No, that's right, if there's lamp posts then in the absence of any other speed indication you assume residential area and 30mph limit.

When I did my test I was taught to look at the distance between lamp posts, and if was 200 yards or less then it is a residential/30 zone.

Actually you're still right - the 30 limit applies to restricted roads, and despite many sources saying otherwise (including the highway code) the street lights must be within 200 yards (185 metres in Scotland) of each other to qualify.

As per the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984:

Subject to the provisions of this section and of section 84(3) of this Act, a road is a restricted road for the purposes of section 81 of this Act if—

(a)in England and Wales, there is provided on it a system of street lighting furnished by means of lamps placed not more than 200 yards apart;

(b)in Scotland, there is provided on it a system of carriageway lighting furnished by means of lamps placed not more than 185 metres apart and the road is of a classification or type specified for the purposes of this subsection in regulations made by the Secretary of State.

Also note that "special roads" (i.e. motorways) are never restricted roads - so they can put street lighting at any spacing on a motorway and it's still a 70 limit.

[scaryjim]

Actually you're still right - the 30 limit applies to restricted roads, and despite many sources saying otherwise (including the highway code) the street lights must be within 200 yards (185 metres in Scotland) of each other to qualify.

And exactly how confident are you that you could eyeball the distance between the lampposts sufficiently accurately to tell I assume they say "lampposts + no sign = 30" on that basis - better safe than sorry, after all...